EU Approves Brexit Extension, but Chaotic Departure Still Looms

European Union leaders on Thursday agreed to extend the deadline for Britain’s looming exit from the bloc in order to give Prime Minister Theresa May and the British Parliament more time to get their act together.

Thursday’s agreement effectively averted the possibility of a disorderly and possibly chaotic departure by Britain on March 29. Yet that still remains a possibility just a few weeks later.

After hours of difficult and sometimes passionate talks, the leaders decided that Britain’s exit date will be pushed back to May 22 if next week Mrs. May can persuade lawmakers in Parliament to accept her plan for leaving the bloc, which they have already rejected overwhelmingly, not once but twice.

If she cannot persuade lawmakers to accept her plan, Mrs. May will get a shorter delay in exiting the European Union — until April 12. But Britain could stay in the bloc longer if it decides it needs more time for a more fundamental rethink of Brexit, as the process is known.

For a longer extension, though, it would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament in May — something Mrs. May said early Friday would be an absurdity, three years after Britons voted in a referendum to leave the bloc.

Speaking at a news conference after the extended deadlines were announced, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said that until April 12, “all options will remain open and the cliff-edge date will be delayed.”

But he added that if there was no agreement in Parliament, and Britain had not indicated by April 12 that it was willing to take part in the European elections, “the option of a long extension will automatically become impossible.”