Tusk To Recommend Brexit Delay To EU Leaders After UK Pauses Bill

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2019) European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday he would recommend that EU leaders give the United Kingdom a Brexit delay that its parliament sought to avoid crashing out of the European Union.

British lawmakers briefly gave Prime Minister Boris Johnson hope that his Brexit deal would be enforced before the October 31 deadline � only to reject a short schedule for its debate. Johnson said he would pause the withdrawal bill until the EU decided whether to allow an extension to the Brexit process.

"Following PM Boris Johnson's decision to pause the process of ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, and in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit, I will recommend the EU27 accept the UK request for an extension.

For this I will propose a written procedure," Tusk tweeted.

Johnson was forced by the Benn Act to write to Tusk on Monday and ask him to delay Brexit until at least January 31, 2020. He complemented the letter with a personal note where he argued against granting the UK that extension, after repeatedly promising to take the country out of the bloc "doe or die."