EU Permanent Representatives Committee Finds Draft Brexit Deal Balanced – Source

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) of the remaining 27 members of the bloc on Sunday reviewed the draft Brexit agreement and found it balanced, a source told Sputnik.

The source noted that the members of the committee have expressed no desire to resume talks with London in order to revise the terms of the deal.

At the same time, the Guardian newspaper reported late on Sunday that EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier raised the prospect of extending the divorce process until the end of 2022 at the meeting of the committee. The extension would allow the sides to negotiate their trading ties, according to the newspaper.

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UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday that there is no alternative to the draft agreement on the UK withdrawal from the European Union and urged the UK Parliament to approve the deal in order to avoid “more uncertainty.”

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016 and is expected to do so by late March 2019 despite a number of stumbling blocks that impede talks, namely, the Irish border and the post-Brexit UK-EU economic relations.

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On Thursday, May defended a draft Brexit deal in the UK Parliament's House of Commons. The agreement faced criticism both from the opposition and from the ruling party, with several members of May's Cabinet having resigned over the disagreement with the deal.