Angela Merkel pledges to fight 'until the last hour' for orderly Brexit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged on Tuesday to "fight to the last hour" to ensure that Britain exits the European Union in an orderly fashion, with just 10 days to go before the country is due to crash out of the bloc if no deal is reached.

"I will fight to the last hour of the period up to March 29 to ensure that we achieve an orderly exit," Merkel said at the Global Solutions Summit being held in Berlin.

While time was short, there were still a few days to go, the chancellor said, adding that, at the moment, she was unable to say why she would be attending the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

This depended on what British Prime Minister Theresa May produced, she said, describing the situation as fluid.

Merkel repeated her call to May to state Britain's wishes. "We will try to react to that," she said.

The chancellor noted that an exit agreement had been negotiated and added to "substantially" with respect to the question of a hard border in Ireland.

And she stressed that Germany aimed for strong relations with Britain following Brexit.

If EU member states do not unanimously back a possible British application for an extension to the March 29 deadline, Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal.