French president isolated, with German officials said to be very irritated with his stance

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, enraged fellow leaders after standing alone against a long extension to Britain’s membership of the EU.

Macron insisted on speaking last during a working dinner in Brussels on Wednesday night during which he set his stall against a longer extension up to 31 December backed by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Over a dinner of scallop salad, cod loin and macadamia nut parfait, it soon emerged that France was nearly isolated, with only a handful of member states, such as Belgium, sounding sympathetic to his arguments.

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The French president angered some EU leaders with his attempt to block a long extension of nine to 12 months that was favoured by the majority.

The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, told the room that Macron’s opposition meant that “we are now only solving French domestic problems”.

German officials were said to be “very irritated” with Macron.

France argued that a long delay risked serious damage to the EU, an outcome Paris said was worse than no-deal. “We do not want to import Britain’s political crisis into the EU,” said an Élysée official.

Theresa May’s talks with Jeremy Corbyn were not a justification “that we have a long extension without guarantees for the functioning of the European Union”.

The French source said no-deal could not be ruled out, arguing that damaging the running of the EU was the worst possible outcome. “The default position is no deal. Endangering the functioning of the EU is not preferable to no-deal.”

After the new deadline was announced, Macron said leaders had found “the best possible compromise” because the 31 October date preserved EU unity, allowed the British more time and preserved “the good functioning of the European Union”.

France had been worried the UK would act as a spoiler on future EU decisions. Macron said this outcome was avoided because the autumn date means the UK will leave before the arrival of a new European commission on 1 November.

A long extension he said would not have been logical for the EU. “We would have decided to weaken our institutions, by having a member who is permanently there but leaving.”

“It’s true that the majority was more in favour of a very long extension. But it was not logical in my view, and above all, it was neither good for us, nor for the UK,” he said.

“I take responsibility for this position, I think it’s for the collective good.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Macron had tweeted: “What is essential: nothing to compromise the European project. We have a European Renaissance to lead, I believe very deeply and I do not want the subject of Brexit to block us on this point.”

Offering support to Macron, the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told the room that the UK would still have the choice to avoid no-deal.

While the EU wrangled over dates, May dined at the British ambassador’s residence, where roast lamb and treacle tart was on the menu. She was called back to the summit around midnight to be presented with a take-it-or-leave-it delay until 31 October 2019, with the issue to be reviewed in June.

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An EU diplomat described the review clause as “nonsense” because as a member state the UK would have the right to veto any attempt to kick it out of the union.

May had spent one hour with EU leaders to persuade them of her extension plan. While her bid for a 30 June deadline failed, she made clear she was not against a longer extension, as long as the UK could leave earlier.

The prime minister garnered more positive reviews of her performance than the previous summit, when she was slated for being evasive.

Some in the room found her presentation “credible and honest”. “May was better than last time, but still somewhat evasive on the big questions,” one EU source said.

• This article was amended on 11 April 2019. An earlier version referred to a “delay until 31 October 2018”. That should have said 31 October 2019.