The leader of the European parliament has criticised Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament, as some Brussels insiders weigh up the increased risk of a no-deal Brexit.

David Sassoli, an Italian socialist MEP who was elected as president of the parliament in July, tweeted: “Listening to parliaments is always good for democracy. For this reason, it is better to keep them open.”

While MEPs have been quick to condemn Johnson’s decision – described by the European parliament’s coordinator on Brexit, Guy Verhofstadt, as “sinister” – EU leaders who are driving the Brexit agenda have stayed silent. European leaders nearly always avoid commenting on domestic politics of other countries.

Some former leaders were less restrained. Alexander Stubb, a former prime minister of Finland, tweeted: “Makes me really sad to see what Brexit is doing to one of the great democracies of our time. Please, stay calm and use common sense.”

Q&A What does 'prorogue parliament' mean? Show Hide Prorogation is the official term that marks the end of a parliamentary session. After being advised to do so by the prime minister, the Queen formally prorogues parliament. This takes the form of an announcement in the House of Lords on the Queen’s behalf. It is a speech, written by the government, which usually describes the bills that have been passed during that session and summarises what has been achieved. It means that all work on existing legislation stops, and MPs and Lords stop sitting. Prorogation also automatically kills any bills, early day motions or questions to ministers going through parliament. Parliament can then be reopened a few days later with a fresh slate of legislation intentions, set out in a new Queen’s speech at the formal state opening of parliament.

The EU wants to avoid getting drawn into Johnson’s political game: officials do not want to hand out Brexit concessions that could be seen as rewarding games of chicken, blocking debate or steamrollering parliament.

While some see a small window opening for a deal, many Brussels sources are pessimistic about finding alternatives to the Irish backstop that will respect the EU’s red lines and pass parliament in a matter of days. The backstop is a fallback plan to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland that would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU.

“If there were brilliant solutions we would have found them a year ago,” one diplomat said. “[Prorogation] certainly increases the uncertainty; it just shows that until the very last moment we don’t know what will happen.”

Ireland is increasingly nervous that it could be betrayed by the EU in the race for a last-minute deal, according to the Irish Times, which recounted a conversation between Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, and the French prime minister, Edouard Philippe.

“[Coveney] began his conversation with Mr Philippe by saying: ‘We are conscious of the fact that Irish-specific issues are preventing a deal between the EU and the UK, and Ireland doesn’t want to be the problem here.’

“Mr Philippe interrupted him and said: ‘Look, you don’t need to worry about this. This is not just an Irish problem. It’s an EU problem and we are in it together.’”

For commentators in Europe’s leading newspapers, several metaphors predominated: Johnson’s move was described as a game of poker, or a coup.

The leading Dutch daily Volksrant described the suspension of parliament as “Johnson’s power grab”, also calling it a “a sly move”. In an analysis, the paper assessed that the prime minister’s aim was to win an election at all costs. “The purpose of the elections is not necessarily to properly complete Brexit; Brexit is rather a way to win the elections. In British politics, maintaining power is above everything else, even above the national interest.”

In its front page, La Libre Belgique described “Boris Johnson’s dangerous coup”, while the inside pages characterised the move as the prime minister’s “institutional joker”. The Flemish paper De Morgen – echoing the words of the Labour shadow chancellor, John McDonnell – said it was “a very British coup”.

France’s leftwing Libération was headlined: “Brexit, harder and harder.” The paper’s London correspondent suggested: “Without doubt, the Queen probably choked on her porridge.” The right-leaning Le Figaro assessed that Johnson was engaged in “a power struggle” with MPs and said the news went off like a bomb at Westminster.

Germany’s left-leaning Taz published a striking front page with MPs sitting on the green benches with red crosses over their mouths.

Kate Lyons (@MsKateLyons) German newspaper Taz this morning. pic.twitter.com/NmA9CVaAe2

In an editorial headlined “Playing dirty”, Spain’s El País said that while Johnson’s move may have been legal, it nonetheless constituted a “severe blow to the parliamentary system of one of the world’s most prestigious democracies”.

It added: “There is an inescapable paradox that a man who has arrived at the head of the British government using rhetoric about defending the essence of Britishness should resort to a trick that goes directly against the very principles that characterise British democracy. Shutting up Westminster is not quite part of the tradition that Johnson professes to defend so ardently.”

El Mundo struck a similar note, recalling the time when the British parliamentary system “was the mirror in which all western democracies contemplated themselves”. But all that had changed since David Cameron’s decision to hold the Brexit referendum – and with the arrival of Johnson, it said.

It described the new prime minister as “a textbook demagogue, opportunistic and unscrupulous, who carved out his journalistic career using scams designed to titillate the nationalistic drives of his readers and who has not abandoned that strategy in getting into No 10 Downing Street”.

Play Video Nationwide protests as Boris Johnson suspends parliament – video

The Irish papers took a bleak view, with the second largest title in the country, the Irish Independent, saying the country could no longer stay out of the fray. Johnson had engineered a “deliberate earthquake in the hope it will play out precisely as planned” without damage, it said.

The country’s finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, said Ireland would stay out of the internal row in Britain. “This is wishful thinking for we have no such luxury. Our country is in the direct path of the fallout clouds,” the Irish Independent said in its leader.

The Irish Times described Johnson’s decision as an “outrageous manoeuvre” that demonstrated the lengths he would go to get his way, while the Belfast Telegraph said the “hopes of mitigating a disastrous EU exit for Northern Ireland are receding fast”.