Leptonic CP phases near the $mu-tau$ symmetric limit

The neutrino masses and mixings indicated by current neutrino oscillation experiments suggest that the neutrino mass matrix possesses an approximate $mu-tau$ exchange symmetry. In this study, we explore the neutrino parameter space and show that if a small $mu-tau$ symmetry breaking is considered, the Majorana $CP$ phases must be unequal and non-zero independently of the neutrino mass scale. Moreover, a small $mu-tau$ symmetry breaking favors quasi-degenerate masses. We also show that Majorana phases are strongly correlated with the Dirac $CP$ violating phase. Within this framework, we obtain robust predictions for the values of the Majorana phases when the experimental indications for the Dirac $CP$ phase are used.