Britain, he stressed, could still leave earlier if May secures parliamentary backing for her Brexit treaty, or it could amend what it wants from a future trade pact. "Until the end of this period, the UK will also have the possibility to ... cancel Brexit altogether," Tusk added.
But she insisted Britain could still secure a deal and leave before Britons would have to vote in a May 23-26 election to the European Parliament — a condition for the country to remain a member of the bloc beyond June 1 under the EU's accord.
French officials said the EU faced "blackmail" by hard-line pro-Brexit potential successors to May, such as Boris Johnson. They might try to sabotage decision-making, they said.
European Council President Donald Tusk, left, looks on as British Prime Minister Theresa May, center left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center right, view a tablet during a meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, April 10, 2019.
However, Merkel has urged the bloc to do all it can to avoid such disruption. She said before leaving Berlin that she favored a delay of "several months" for May, who has pledged to quit if hard-core Brexit supporters in her own Conservative Party drop objections to her "soft Brexit" and help ratify the deal.
Her EU peers, however, are skeptical about her ability to break the deadlock soon. They are exasperated with May's handling of a tortuous and costly divorce that is a distraction from ensuring the bloc can hold its own against global economic challenges.