The BBC editor claimed the European Union would inevitably grant a further extension to the Brexit negotiations if the next Prime Minister of the UK needed one to finalise a deal with the Brussels bloc. Dr Adler made the claim as fellow BBC Brussels Correspondent Adam Fleming claimed the potential incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would be open to a further extension of the Article 50 process. 

He said: “Ursula von der Leyen has been doing a tour of the political groups today because she needs them to vote for her to be approved as the Commission President.

“So today is the first day we’ve seen her in public because she had all her meetings in private up to today sending a few vague tweets.

“But we’ve had hours and hours of televised hearings today with the political groups and when it comes to Brexit you can call her a Remainer.

The EU cannot just say you have to have a general election or you have to have a second referendum

Katya Adler

“She said multiple times and very clearly I would like the UK to remain in the EU.

“Then her other message is that it’s incredibly important what the tone is on both sides because Brexit isn’t the end of the relationship between the UK and the EU, it’s the beginning of a new one.

“And she then said that she’d be open to another extension of Article 50 if the UK asked for it.”

To which Katya Adler replied saying the EU would not be able to oppose such a request. 

She said: “And she’s not alone. I think that despite all the inevitable posturing and chest-beating on both sides, the EU would grant an extension.

“And it cannot just say you have to have a general election or you have to have a second referendum.

“They can’t impose those kinds of conditions.”

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Mrs von der Leyen, who is expected to become the European Commission president in November, told MEPs she would back a delay in Britain’s EU exit beyond the end of October.

The self-confessed “Remainer” said it would be a “good idea” to give Britain’s next prime minister extra negotiating time if it helps prevents a no deal Brexit.

She warned Tory leadership candidates, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, that pursuing no deal would be a “catastrophic” way to start work on the future UK-EU trading relationship.

The German defence minister also showed her support for the Brexit deal negotiated by Brussels negotiator Michel Barnier and Theresa May, the outgoing Prime Minister.

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