Frank Engel is particularly annoyed, says the Luxemburger Wort, that the UK will now probably take part in elections to the European Parliament. Matic Zorman (archives)

Frank Engel is particularly annoyed, says the Luxemburger Wort, that the UK will now probably take part in elections to the European Parliament. Matic Zorman (archives)

Speaking during a visit to Luxembourg by Manfred Weber, the lead candidate of the European People’s Party bloc in the European Parliament, CSV president Frank Engel said that if it had been up to him, the UK would have been made to leave the European Union today, Friday 12 April, with or without a deal.

The Luxemburger Wort, a newspaper closely associated with the CSV, said on 11 April that Engel was particularly annoyed by the fact that it looks as though the UK will now have to participate in the European Parliament elections in May.

Engel also complained that it had taken the UK nine months after the June 2016 referendum result to send the letter starting the Article 50 process--though many observers say that Theresa May should have taken more time before sending the letter so that she could have better prepared a negotiating strategy.

And he also blamed the EU 27 leaders for continuing to indulge May’s repeated requests for more time, even though she has brought nothing new to the negotiating table.