UK Prime Minister Theresa May to storm the EU as the union
prepares to re-elect Donald Tusk as the Council president, as it is alleged to
be Mrs May’s last EU leaders’ summit before she triggers the long waited
Article 50 by the end of March.
Report has it that Mrs May will attend the first day of the
Brussels summit, where leaders from the 28-country bloc will discuss migration,
security and economic growth.
But she will leave after dinner on Thursday night, to pave
way for the remaining 27 leaders to discuss the next summit - in Rome on 25
March - which will celebrate the EU's 60th anniversary.
Although Brexit is not officially on the agenda at the EU
summit but Mrs May has used these occasions to discuss Brexit-related issues
with other leaders, for example the status of EU nationals in the UK.
The summit may be overshadowed, however, by a diplomatic
headache regarding Mr Tusk. This is because the Prime Minister of Poland Beata
Szydlo wrote to the Mrs May and other leaders of the EU for them to get rid of
the current president Donald Tusk. As he is being accused of influencing
domestic politics.
The bitter row between former Polish Prime Minister Mr Tusk
and Ms Szydlo's Law and Justice Party has led to Warsaw suggesting a challenger
for the job - Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.
The disagreement will come to a head at the commencement of
the conference, when leaders of the union will vote on whether Mr Tusk should
continue in the role until the end of November 2019.
If not carefully handled, the quarrel could potentially
bring about huge implications for Mrs May, as she needs support of EU leaders
to get her Brexit negotiations through, once Article 50 is triggered.
Though Mrs May’s spokesman reportedly said that she will not
make public her plan for the EU election, but said: "The Prime Minister
has been clear that she thinks that he (Mr Tusk) is doing a good job."
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