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Your support makes all the difference.The EU Commission has reiterated its backing for Theresa May ahead of a no-confidence vote by the prime minister’s party this evening.
Speaking in Brussels Margaritis Schinas, the chief spokesperson of the Commission presidency, said the Commission believed Ms May had done a good job of “managing a very difficult process”.
It comes after the PM met with Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Tuesday night.
“The Commission will not comment on the internal politics of the United Kingdom and not least the Conservative party, but President Juncker has on many occasions expressed his support for prime minister May and her role in managing a very difficult process,” the spokesperson said when asked about the vote.
Mr Schinas said Mr Juncker had listened “attentively” to the concerns raised by Ms May about the Northern Ireland backstop at the meeting on Tuesday night, which came after the prime minister dashed between EU capitals seeking concessions.
Last night European Council president Donald Tusk said it was clear that the EU27 countries wanted to help Theresa May placate her party and pass the deal but that "the question is how".
The prime minister is due to attend a summit in Brussels with the 27 other national leaders on Thursday and Friday of this week, where she is seeking concessions to her Brexit withdrawal agreement, following a hostile reception to it by her MPs.
Though the EU has said emphatically that the withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated, leaders have hinted that they could draw up some kind of non-binding declaration to better interpret the controversial backstop, if it helps the PM.
Tory eurosceptic MPs and the DUP have however said that the backstop, which ties the UK to an EU customs union to avoid a hard border with Ireland, needs to be seriously neutered for them to consider backing the withdrawal agreeement.
Well-placed EU diplomats on Wednesday speaking ahead of the summit however said that the backstop could not be changed, limited, or constrained in any meaningful way.
The Prime Minister has said she will fight the no-confidence vote by her MPs, which was triggered by 48 of them lodging letters with party authorities.
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