European leaders were grudgingly preparing to postpone Brexit on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Theresa May made last-ditch visits to Paris and Berlin to beg for more time.
May asked to be given until June 30 to arrange Britain’s orderly departure, but EU leaders fear that won’t be long enough and are now expected to offer her up to a year.
“There are times when you need to give time,” EU Council president Donald Tusk tweeted, as he issued invitations to an emergency EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, just days before Britain’s latest departure date.
Summit host Tusk said in his invitation letter that the evidence of recent months gives EU leaders “little reason to believe” that British lawmakers will ratify the Brexit withdrawal treaty before May’s preferred June 30 departure.
“One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year, as beyond that date we will need to decide unanimously on some key European projects,” he said.
Tusk’s suggestion does not bind the other EU leaders to accept the extension plan when they meet on Wednesday, but his ideas chimed with what diplomatic sources were suggesting as May…
