EU members delayed a decision on Friday on how long to postpone next week's Brexit deadline, giving British Prime Minister Boris Johnson space to push for an early general election.
Senior diplomats told AFP they would reconvene on Monday or Tuesday next week, thus perhaps fewer than 72 hours before Britain is set to break away from the bloc.
Johnson is struggling to call an election he hopes will give him a majority to pass the divorce deal he struck with EU leaders last week.
But the British opposition wants to know whether Europe will agree to delay departure before agreeing to a snap poll -- and October 31 remains the official deadline. After what EU negotiator Michel Barnier said were "excellent discussions", European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said work among member states "will continue in coming days".
Two diplomats told AFP the ambassadors set an informal deadline of late Monday or early Tuesday to decide -- just two days before the current Brexit deadline. Senior European diplomats who attended the meeting confirmed the 27 non-British members had agreed in principle that some kind of delay is in order.
They also agreed that their capitals could decide on its length by written procedure, rather than by holding a leaders' crisis summit in Brussels next week.