EU wrangles over new Brexit delay sought by May

European Union leaders were poised to grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Britain’s fraught exit at an emergency summit on Wednesday, after arguing over how long and on what terms.

French President Emmanuel Macron was pushing to withhold any commitment to extend Friday’s deadline much beyond elections to the European Parliament on May 23-26 unless May binds herself, and any potentially more anti-EU successor, not to disrupt the workings of Brussels.

“Nothing can be taken for granted,” Macron warned, voicing frustration with a lack of clarity from London nearly three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc.

Three weeks ago, Macron’s impatience with France’s historic cross-Channel rival dominated the last summit, when Brexit was put back by a fortnight. Diplomats said he was again facing a more cautious line from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she favored an extension of “several months”.

“The question isn’t whether there will be an extension but for how long and under what conditions,” a senior diplomat said.

Keen to ease tension, Merkel broke the ice as talks began by showing an amused May a photomontage on a tablet of both wearing similar jackets when addressing their parliaments earlier in the day. May then briefed the other 27 on her efforts to work with her Labour opponents to find an elusive majority for a deal.

After an hour, she was shown out to spend the evening in the British delegation rooms in the Council building, waiting for the others to decide Britain’s fate over dinner.

MAY WANTS OUT SOON
Legally, Britain is due to leave the EU on Friday with no transition to new trading arrangements. But leaders insisted they would not force Britain out in a disorderly departure.

“If they need a little more time, I think it’s reasonable to discuss what that would be,” Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said, noting that Britain still faced choices — to leave without a deal, accept the deal that its parliament has rejected three times, or change its mind and stay in the EU.

May has asked the EU to wait until June 30.

“I want us to be able to leave the European Union in a smooth and orderly way as soon as possible,” she said.

“I’ve asked for an extension to June 30, but what is important is that the extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, so we could leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future.”

Some leaders, like Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, said Britain should have a year more to sort itself out. Others, like Swedish premier Stefan Lofven, echoed Macron’s concerns about the risks of a long extension for the functioning of the EU.