EU's Tusk calls for Brexit meeting on April 10

By Busra Nur Bilgic

ANKARA (AA) - Just after British lawmakers again voted down the withdrawal agreement with the EU, the European Council president has called for it to meet two days before April 12, Britain's new exit date.

“In view of the rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement by the House of Commons, I have decided to call a European Council on 10 April,” Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, by a 286-344 vote, the British parliament rejected the EU withdrawal agreement for a third time.

On Wednesday British lawmakers failed to back any of the eight options put forward as alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, deepening the chaos around the country’s departure from the EU.

After agreeing to an extension, the EU had previously agreed to move the Brexit date from March 29 (today) to April 12 (if agreement did not approve the deal) or to May 22 (if it approved the deal).

U.K. voters decided to leave the bloc after a more than 40-year membership in a 2016 referendum.