France softens its stance ahead of May plea for delay

BRUSSELS — Toughguy France softened its stance Tuesday and showed willingness to accept yet another delay in the long-awaited Brexit, diminishing the chances that Britain would crash out of the European Union this week without any future plan.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May still has a rough day ahead of her as she heads to an emergency summit in Brussels on Wednesday to plead for a new Brexit extension — for the second time in three weeks. Such gatherings aren’t getting any friendlier.

With nearly everyone fully resigned to Britain’s departure from the European Union, two questions took center stage Tuesday: How — and when — to get the U.K. out the door.

EU countries, especially France, have become increasingly exasperated with the political division and uncertainty in Britain about a way forward.

The bloc’s leaders have tried to help May over the past two years of negotiations, even after she missed her hand-picked Brexit departure date on March 29 because of a parliamentary revolt. After obtaining a delay until Friday, she will be asking for another postponement that lasts until June 30 at the special EU summit.

On a charm offensive with key leaders, May flew first to Berlin Tuesday to plead for good terms with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and then set off for Paris for an encounter with President Emmanuel Macron, seen as her counterpart with the toughest demands.

“France is really trying to play bad cop here,” said Larissa Brunner, an analyst at European Policy Center, referring to French insistence that another extension to her deadline must come with strings attached and assurances from London.

However, an official in Macron’s office said Tuesday that France was ready to accept a new delay.

While Macron still has a long list of conditions, it was a notable shift in France’s tone compared to last week. The reason for the change was unclear, though concerns have been growing about how badly a hard Brexit would hit the French economy, too. France was also encouraged by May’s outreach last week to Britain’s political opposition to find a compromise, and Macron may have been swayed in part by a meeting with the Irish prime minister.

France is now at the forefront to get the EU to take some decisive action.

All eyes are now turned toward Macron, who has it in his power to force Britain to choose between a no-deal Brexit on Friday and cancelling its departure altogether. A drastic cliff-edge departure would have huge costs to businesses and trade across the English Channel and be very cumbersome to travelers as it would hit airports, ports, tariff rules and standard regulations overnight.