British Prime Minister Theresa May came to Brussels on Thursday seeking concessions from the European Union on her Brexit deal, despite the bloc's repeated insistence that it is not open to renegotiation.
British lawmakers remain deadlocked over Brexit, and many continue to oppose the withdrawal agreement that May inked with the EU member states in December after 20 months of negotiations.
Fears are growing that Britain could crash out of the EU on the scheduled March 29 exit date without a deal to ease the withdrawal after decades of membership.
May first met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with plans to also see European Council President Donald Tusk as well as European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and the legislature's Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt.
The talks will likely be dominated by the stalemate over the border between the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
May is seeking a time limit to the "backstop" protocol in the withdrawal agreement that is designed to guarantee that the Irish border remains open, in order to win parliamentary approval of the Brexit deal, a British source told dpa shortly before her visit.
Many Brexit supporters fear the backstop could leave Britain indefinitely tied closely to the EU, while placing Northern Ireland under slightly different arrangements from the rest of the United Kingdom.
During a visit to Belfast on Tuesday, May said the changes required by parliament would involve "replacing the backstop with another arrangement which avoids a hard border or making legally binding changes to the backstop to introduce a time limit or create an exit mechanism."
"The UK's objective is to find a way to guarantee we cannot, and will not, be trapped in the backstop," a government source said of Thursday's talks.
"The prime minister is open to different ways to achieve this, but is clear it must be legally binding and therefore [she] will require changes to the withdrawal agreement," the source said, adding that "securing such changes will not be easy."
Ahead of May's visit, Tusk created a ruckus on Wednesday with incendiary remarks about the initial proponents of Brexit.
"I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely," Tusk said following talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
