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WORLD NEWS Friday 23 June 2017

‘Imagine’ if Britain stays in EU? Discord at EU summit

By RAF CASERT that Brexit perhaps would
Associated Press not happen, it brings an
BRUSSELS (AP) — While Eu- uncertainty.”
ropean Union chief Donald German Chancellor Ange-
Tusk may still be “a dream- la Merkel also was focused
er” hoping that Britain is on imagining an EU without
having second thoughts on Britain.
leaving the EU, other lead- “For me, shaping the future
ers at Thursday’s EU summit of the 27 (remaining) mem-
tried to shake him back to ber states has priority over
reality. the question of the nego-
Discord over whether the tiations with Britain on its
exit process could still be exit,” Merkel said.
reversed surfaced at the When May officially trig-
summit in Brussels as Brit- gered the two-year unrav-
ish Prime Minister Theresa eling process in March, she
May was preparing to brief forced the EU to realize it
the 27 EU other leaders on was losing one of its big-
the Brexit negotiations that gest members and a glob-
started this week. al player.
Tusk said when British friends Tusk, who grew up in Com-
asked him if he could imag- munist Poland before the British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, speaks with from left, French President Emmanuel Ma-
ine a way for Britain to re- Soviet Union collapsed in cron, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani
main part of the bloc, he 1991, said, however, that and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels
told them “the EU was built his personal history has on Thursday, June 22, 2017.
on dreams that seemed taught him never to give Associated Press
impossible to achieve.” up hope.
“So who knows? You may And he has not been alone.
say I am a dreamer but I’m French President Emman-
not the only one,” Tusk con- uel Macron said last week
tinued, quoting a lyric from that the door is still open for
the late John Lennon’s Britain to remain. He said
“Imagine.” from a European point of
Belgian Prime Minister view, as long as the nego-
Charles Michel, however, tiations are not over, there
said the will of the British is still a possibility to change
people who voted in a the course of the events.
June 2016 referendum to Tusk has seen history
leave the bloc had to be change before his eyes in
respected. Poland.
“I am not a dreamer. And “Miracles do happen
I am not the only one,” Mi- and some of my political
chel said. dreams have come true,”
Michel insisted Brexit ne- he said.
gotiations should proceed In contrast, EU Commis-
without fanciful distrac- sion President Jean-Claude
tions. Juncker is a hard-nosed
“What we also need is cer- realist. “In Europe, I never
tainty, for our companies have illusions because I
in Belgium, in Europe,” he don’t want to lose them,”
said. “If we back this image Juncker said.q