EU's Juncker: British people must decide whether to continue with Brexit

ASTANA. KAZINFORM As leaders of the European Union's member states prepared for a landmark decision to move Brexit talks on to future trade discussions, the European Commission's president said Friday it was up to the British people to decide whether or not to cancel the Brexit process, EFE reports.

Jean-Claude Juncker spoke on the doorstep of the European Council summit in Brussels, where the EU's heads of state and government _ with the exception of the UK _ were preparing to give the green light to beginning phase two of the Brexit negotiations, which opens up future trade talks on the basis that initial agreements on citizens' rights, the financial settlement and the Irish border have been secured.

When asked by a reporter as to whether Brexit will happen at all following calls by the Austrian prime minister on Thursday for the process to be canceled, Juncker said: "That depends on the British parliament and the British people, it is not up to us to say what the British people have to do."

The 63-year-old Luxembourger reiterated his continued regret over the UK's decision to leave.

Meanwhile, members of the UK's House of Commons, the country's lower parliamentary chamber, are currently grappling with the government's withdrawal bill to write all EU law into UK law in a bid to ensure an orderly departure from the bloc.

But Prime Minister Theresa May was dealt a humiliating blow late Wednesday when 11 members of her own Conservative government defied the party whip and backed an amendment that enshrines parliament's right to a meaningful vote on the final Brexit outcome, rather than entrusts the process to government ministers.

The last-minute addition to the bill, tabled by a Conservative, passed by 309 votes to 305.

With time increasingly stacked against her, May has been back and forth to Brussels for a series of crunch talks with EU leaders searching for consensus on the future status of EU citizens living in the UK and vice-versa, the final sum of the UK's so-called divorce bill _ which is estimated at some $50 billion _ and how to retain a customs-free Irish border.

May and Juncker announced a breakthrough on these three topics last week, clearing the way for the remaining EU member states to trigger phase two of the bloc.

An official announcement that negotiations had moved on to the next phase is expected later on Friday.