Theresa May is increasingly in difficulty in the UK and uncertainty reigns over Brexit. At the end of the dinner of heads of state and government meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening, the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom remained deadlocked, the 27 canceled the extraordinary summit announced for November and were preparing for the "no deal" scenario.
British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed on Thursday morning what she had indicated the previous evening at the end of the meeting with the Twenty-Seven: "I am open to an extension of the transition phase". This is the period starting from the moment of Brexit, i.e. the end of March 2019. There is talk of a one-year extension beyond the 9 months in fact already agreed. May would therefore be ready to agree to lengthen the transitional period during which the UK will apply the EU rules also after the Brexit, beyond 31 December 2020. This would extend the United Kingdom's participation in the European Union in the new multiannual financial framework: this implies that London will have to pay the contribution to the EU budget and comply with all the rules of the internal market. At the moment it is not clear how May can hold up this position within the Tory party: the Brexit extremists believe that already having given in for 21 months represents an attack on British sovereignty and a repudiation of the no to the EU. And the British premier's declarations immediately provoked harsh reactions in England, so much so that she herself later explained that the extension of the negotiations, designed to favor the solution of the Northern Irish knot, "will not necessarily be used".
However, the option has been discussed, confirmed the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani. He also specified that May has not presented anything new at the negotiating table and therefore time must be bought. as the European negotiator Michel Barnier underlined: “We are still a long way off. We will continue to negotiate calmly and patiently." There is talk of a possible extraordinary summit in December.
The thorny Irish question and the return of borders between North and South that could raise old tensions remain to be resolved. The crux of the "backstop" still remains, i.e. the temporary regime of virtually free movement of goods and people across the Irish border pending a long-term solution.
