‘EU compromise is needed to avert harmful Brexit’

Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to work until the “last day” to ensure an orderly Brexit and signalled that responsibility for a successful withdrawal doesn’t lie solely with Theresa May.
Merkel’s comments suggest an opening after the UK 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. “We also have a responsibility to shape this separation process in a responsible way, so that people don’t look back in 50 years, shaking their heads, and say why weren’t we in a position to make a compromise?” Merkel said in the Baltic port city of Rostock.
With the UK 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.
With 10 weeks before a March 29 date for the exit and a no-deal divorce ever more in view, Merkel said the turmoil showed how difficult the exit process had become.
“Let me say emphatically, I will work until the last day to ensure that we have a settled solution for the UK’s exit,” Merkel told a regional party conference in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Speculation has grown that May’s government may seek an extension of the Brexit process under Article 50 of the EU treaty.