Britain - EU relations: EU welcomes Johnson by rebuffing his Brexit plans - by Eszter Zalan

The EU has welcomed Boris Johnson, the next UK prime minister, with scepticism as the new Conservative leader promised his party peers to deliver Brexit by the end of October.

The former mayor of London and ex-foreign minister Johnson won 66 percent of the votes in the Conservative party leadership race to succeed Theresa May, against foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, party officials announced on Tuesday (23 July).

French president Emmanuel Macron and the next president of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen, immediately congratulated Johnson, and said they looked forward to constructive talks with him.

"I'm looking forward to having a good working relationship with him," von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Macron in Paris.

"We have the duty to deliver something which is good for people in Europe and in the UK," she said.

Von der Leyen has earlier stated that she would be open to an extension of the Brexit deadline, currently 31 October, but that would have to be decided by EU leaders at their summit in mid-October.

While EU leaders want to avoid a no-deal Brexit, most of them are frustrated with the ongoing political crisis in the UK.

Read more at: EU welcomes Johnson by rebuffing his Brexit plans

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Britain - the Brexit Saga: E.U.Officials Agree to Brexit Delay, but with Conditions - by Stephen Castle

Top officials of the European Union tossed Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline on Wednesday, saying they would allow Britain to push back its departure date from the bloc, but only if Parliament endorsed her withdrawal plan.

Lawmakers have twice already rejected Mrs. May’s plan emphatically, but in the unlikely event they changed their minds, Britain would still need an extension. The March 29 deadline is so near, there is no way lawmakers can pass the supporting legislation needed to put any withdrawal plan into effect.

In offering an extension but tying it to a vote in Parliament, the European Union officials appeared to be trying to strengthen Mrs. May’s position and pressure British lawmakers to fall into line behind her plan, which would allow Britain to exit the bloc but maintain its trade ties until at least the end of 2020.

If they don’t, the alternative may be an outcome many of the lawmakers like even less than the prime minister’s plan: a break from the bloc with no provisions for cushioning its economic impact — a so-called no-deal Brexit — or an even lengthier delay. And that could potentially mean no withdrawal from the bloc at all.

Given the chaos and dysfunction of British politics, it was not at all clear Wednesday that the gambit by the European Union officials would pay off. The showdown between Britain and the European Union, it seems, may be destined go right down to the wire

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, did offer a bit of encouragement in an otherwise bleak landscape.

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Brexit: Prolonging Brexit talks ‘should not be excluded’, says key EU power broker - by Sarantis Michalopoulos

The complexity of the Brexit negotiations means extending the talks by one year should not be excluded, according to the spokesperson of the European People’s Party (EPP), the leading power broker in the EU institutions.

The declaration by Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan, spokesperson of the European People’s Party (EPP), is the first time the EU’s leading centre-right political family publicly admits that Brexit talks may have to be prolonged.

If that extension eventually materialises, it would be a major concession to the government of UK Prime Minister Theresa May which only managed to kick off negotiations on 19 June, one year after the historic referendum on EU membership.

Read more: Prolonging Brexit talks ‘should not be excluded’, says key EU power broker – EURACTIV.com