BREAKING NEWS
Despite the dramatic calls from Theresa May for a vote in favor of the Brexit agreement with the EU and her assurances that if her agreement is voted on, the British government will work more closely with Parliament in the next phase of negotiations, the British Parliament tonight rejected the deal, delivering a major defeat to the British Prime Minister.
In fact, things seem to be getting even more difficult for May, as Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would file a new motion of censure against the British prime minister on Wednesday.
"It is clear that parliament is voting against the agreement, but it is not at all clear what exactly this means," May said shortly after the announcement of the result.
The British MPs voted against the draft agreement with 432 votes, while 202 voted in favor of the Exit Agreement from the European Union and now the country is in murky waters as - as the British Prime Minister underlined - there is no alternative agreement.
As an immediate next step, the government must present a plan B within three days, with the possibility of amendments.
The developments will be discussed on Wednesday morning in a special plenary session of the European Parliament, in the presence of Jean-Claude Juncker, who returned earlier than planned to Brussels, from Strasbourg where he was.
Shortly before the crucial vote in the British Parliament, the head of the finance ministers of the Eurozone Mario Senteno said that Europe and Britain could have further talks and adjust their positions in order to avoid a Brexit without an agreement. "We can open all the files… We will need to make informed decisions with absolute calm and avoid an exit without agreement. "Practically, anything is better than an exit without an agreement," he said characteristically.
The next day's scenarios: Exit without agreement, second referendum, elections or Brexit extension
The postponement of Brexit through the extension of Article 50 of the European Treaty, which regulates the withdrawal of a Member State, increasingly seems to be a plausible possibility. According to a diplomatic source, "an extension beyond March 29 is possible, but not beyond June 30, when the new European Parliament will be formed."
Second referendum
The possibility of a second referendum demanded by the pro-Europeans and the opposition who want to overturn the result of the first referendum, but also officials who see in it a way out of the impasse. It is a possibility that has so far been ruled out by Theresa May.
The questions that need to be asked in the event of a second referendum remain to be clarified: stay in the EU or the May plan? Or leaving without an agreement? And all this without guaranteeing that a second referendum would produce different results than the first.
The Labor Party would support holding a second referendum if it does not get the early elections it seeks.