European Council president suggests Brexit could be halted

Brussels, Oct 24 (IANS) European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday said the future relationship between the UK and the European Union (EU) was dependant on the former and suggested that Brexit could be halted.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Tusk stressed the importance of unity among the remaining 27 EU member states irrespective of which way negotiations go,reports Efe news.

"It is in fact up to London how this will end: with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit," said Tusk.

He said the bloc could take on "every scenario as long as we are not divided."

It was not the first time since the Brexit process began that the top official has floated the possibility of the UK remaining in the EU; he touched on it after an EU leaders summit in June, drawing inspiration from John Lennon's song "Imagine".

Tusk had said that some of his British friends had asked him if Brexit was reversible and if he could imagine the UK being part of the bloc in the future.

He said that he had replied that the EU was "built on dreams that seemed impossible to achieve," continuing: "So, who knows? You may say I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one."

In his speech on Tuesday, the President of the Council, which represents all the countries belonging to the EU, said he was an "incurable optimist".

He ended his address on the future make-up of the European Parliament, faced with the prospect of the UK's withdrawal, with British officials currently filling 73 of the 750 seats.

"I take all the proposals seriously that have surfaced in this debate, they are all interesting and pro-European ideas," he added.