Post British PM Theresa May failing to sell her exit plan to Berlin and Paris, it could mean a delay of a year for Brexit. European Council President Donald Tusk did not have much faith in May's cross party talks and suggested an extended delay of a year for more flexibility.
Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded with France and Germany for a second and more lengthy delay to Brexit.
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May met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and was due later to meet in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who so far has taken a harder line on the issue. Donald Tusk said a short postponement could create “rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates.”
In a possible boost for the embattled British premier, an aide to Macron said Paris could be prepared to accept an extension of less than a year. Merkel's party too said she could consider a delay until the start of 2020.
May is facing backlash from her party over an extended delay and Britain having to take part in EU elections.
May hopes her meeting with two of the powerful leaders in Europe will have other EU leaders agree at the emergency summit to postpone Brexit from April 12 to June 30, to give her more time to get her divorce deal through parliament.
British MPs have rejected the text, and May's government is now in talks with the opposition Labour party to try to find a way through the deadlock. According to EU negotiator Michael Barnier, May should explain what could be achieved by another postponement.
"The length of the extension must be linked to the purpose — what it's for — and that depends on what Mrs May will say to European leaders tomorrow," he said.
Speaking ahead of May's talks in Paris with Macron, the aide to the French president said France had "never been closed to the idea of finding an alternative solution to 'no deal' within certain limits and not at any price".
EU ministers have expressed frustration at the turmoil in London, where MPs still cannot agree on how to leave the EU almost three years after the referendum vote for Brexit.
"We are in a very, very frustrating situation here," said Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth as he arrived in Luxembourg.
His French counterpart Amelie de Montchalin told reporters that "we want to understand what the UK needs this extension for".
There is worry among EU members that a long delay could have the British representatives disrupt EU budget planning and reforms during indefinite Brexit talks.
Rigorous conditions on an extension, according to a Macron aide, would need to include limits on Britain's influence in the bloc so it was "present and applying the rules but not taking part in decision making."
Merkel while briefing MPs from her CDU-CSU conservative bloc after she hosted May in Berlin, said the option of a Brexit deadline in early 2020 would be discussed at the EU summit.
As Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn waits for signs of compromise, May is now hoping for more progress with Labour.
Corbyn's top team was meeting with some of May's senior ministers, including leading Brexit supporter Michael Gove and her more pro-European finance minister Philip Hammond.
While several of May's ministers are strongly opposed to closer ties with EU saying ti would undermine the potential of Brexit, Corbyn wants Britain to agree on new customs arrangements with the EU. He believes these could be included in a text May has already agreed with Brussels setting out the shape of future trade ties.
