Merkel’s comments suggest an opening after the U.K. prime minister made a round of phone calls to other EU leaders, including Merkel, in the days after she suffered a landslide parliamentary defeat of her withdrawal deal this week. Addressing a regional party event, Merkel framed Brexit as a historic test of the European Union’s ability to withstand crises. With the U.K. premier due to unveil a fresh Brexit plan on Monday, EU leaders and diplomats have said they’ll wait to assess May’s next move. Speculation has grown that May’s government may seek an extension of the Brexit process under Article 50 of the EU treaty. Earlier, May phoned Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

Source: National Post January 19, 2019 19:30 UTC