EU opposes UK PM May's plan to delay Brexit till June 30

Brussels, March 21: The European Union (EU) has opposed British Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to delay Brexit until June 30, as per a leaked internal EU diplomatic note, Independent reported.

"Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections," the report cited the leaked document as saying.

"This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions."

The document, drawn up for European Commissioners, said that "any other option (as for example an extension until 30 June 2019) would entail serious legal and political risks for the European Union and would import some of the current uncertainties in the United Kingdom into the EU27".

On Wednesday, March 20, PM May wrote to European Council president Donald Tusk requesting an extension past March 29, the day the UK is set to exit the EU. May said she was not ready to delay Brexit any further than the last day of June.

The decision over extending the delay and by how long is not upto Brussels but 27 other EU member states who have to approve it unanimously.