Brexit: European Parliament group leaders support flexible extension to January 31
The governing body of the European Parliament has recommended to European Council President Donald Tusk acceptance of a further extension of Brexit to January 31 2020, the European Parliament said in a statement.
The recommendation was made after a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament on the morning of October 24.#
The Conference of Presidents consists of the President of the European Parliament, the leaders of the political groups and a representative of independent MEPs.
“The Conference of Presidents continues to take the view that the consent procedure with regard to the Withdrawal Agreement is not a formality but must be preceded by a thorough and exhaustive scrutiny of the text,” the European Parliament said.
“This extension will allow the United Kingdom to clarify its position and the European Parliament to properly exercise its role,” EP President David Sassoli said.
In view of the time that such diligent work requires, the Conference of Presidents said that the European Council should accept the request of the UK Prime Minister sent on October 19 to extend the Article 50(3) TEU period until January 31 2020, “with the option that this period could end earlier should ratification and consent procedure have been completed in both the United Kingdom and the European Parliament”.
The Conference of Presidents said that a European Council decision on an extension should take into account that the European Parliament’s consent procedure would begin only after the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement by the UK.
