Despite the request for extension .. Johnson 's government challenges: Brexit on time

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Sunday it was determined to leave the European Union as scheduled on October 31, despite a request from the European Council to extend the deadline for withdrawal.

British Foreign Secretary Dominique Rapp said he was confident his country would leave the EU at the end of this month, adding that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had proved skeptics wrong by reaching a new Brexit deal with Brussels.

Michael Gough, the minister in charge of preparing for a withdrawal without agreement, said yesterday's House of Commons vote increased the likelihood that it would happen because the Europeans did not guarantee approval for the extension.

The comments came after European Council President Donald Tusk announced that he had received a letter from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting an extension of the deadline for his country's exit from the European Union until the end of January.

Tusk said he had received the request to extend the Brexit deadline and would start consultations with EU leaders on how to respond.

Message and meeting
Johnson has sent a letter to the President of the Council of Europe, Donald Tusk, requesting the postponement of the date of exit of his country from the European Union fixed by the end of this month.

But Johnson refused to sign the letter, which he was forced by law to send after the House of Commons passed an amendment obliging the government to negotiate with Brussels on a new extension of the Brexit deadline.

Johnson sent the request in compliance with the law after the British parliament voted on Saturday to amend the legislation requiring the prime minister to postpone the Brexit process, which was a blow to the latter as he was waiting for a vote on the Brexit agreement he reached with the Union.

EU ambassadors met early Sunday to discuss the next step on the Brexit issue, but it was not immediately clear how the bloc planned to respond to the British request to extend the deadline for the UK's withdrawal after the deadline. Scheduled for October 31.

According to EU sources, the meeting focused on measures for the EU to ratify the agreement reached last week with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It is noteworthy that London made the decision to leave the Union in a referendum held on June 23, 2016, and then began negotiations with Brussels, through the activation of Article 50 of the Lisbon Agreement, which regulates the procedures for leaving the Union.

She was due to leave the UK officially on March 29, but was postponed due to the lack of a final agreement governing the process after the rejection of the British Parliament.