Eurocrat Juncker: If Brexit Delayed, UK Voting in EU Elections Would be ‘Joke of History’

BERLIN (AP) – EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says he can’t rule out that a delayed Brexit could mean the United Kingdom would participate in this spring’s European Parliament election.

However, Juncker told German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung in an interview published Tuesday that such a scenario was “difficult to imagine,” saying it would be a “belated joke of history.”

Britain is scheduled to withdraw from the European Union on March 29, but the U.K. government is trying to revisit a divorce deal agreed with the EU last year. Brussels is refusing to budge.

Juncker told the Stuttgarter Zeitung it’s up to Britain to decide whether it wants to request a delay to the Brexit date, but that it should happen before the newly elected European Parliament gathers in early June.

The election takes place May 23-26.