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EU chief: UK voting in European election would be a 'joke'

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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 on May 23.