EU will wait until MPs debate Brexit deal before extension decision

The EU will wait until the Brexit deal comes up in
front of MPs on Tuesday before making decisions on the terms of a further
extension.
Brussels – with MPs likely to vote on a series of
amendments to the deal including a confirmatory referendum – is reluctant to be
dragged into the political drama in Westminster.
EU ambassadors agreed on Sunday morning that the
withdrawal agreement would be sent to the European parliament on Monday. MEPs
could vote on it on Thursday if the Commons has given its approval by then.
The bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said
when leaving the Sunday morning meeting with ambassadors that the EU’s
ratification process was continuing as “normal”.
The European council’s president, Donald Tusk, will
spend until Tuesday consulting the heads of state and government about their
appetite for a further Brexit delay. Ambassadors for the EU27 did not discuss
the issue on Sunday morning.
Despite attempts by Downing Street to muddy the
waters, the prime minister’s letter requesting an extension was formally
accepted by Tusk on Saturday night.
Johnson, speaking in the Commons earlier that day,
had told MPs that he did not believe the EU would be minded to offer a further
extension and that he would not negotiate one.
The prime minister soon after sent a total of three
letters: an unsigned photocopy of the request he was obliged to send under the
Benn act, an explanatory letter from the UK’s ambassador to the EU and a
personal letter explaining why Downing Street did not want an extension.
In the signed message, Johnson warned of the
“corrosive impact” of a long delay, and that “a further extension would damage
the interests of the UK and our EU partners, and the relationship between us”.
He said parliament had “missed the opportunity to
inject momentum into the ratification process” yet remained confident Brexit
legislation would be passed by 31 October.
Senior EU officials said it had been clear during
the discussions among the leaders at a summit on Thursday that “they would
grant an extension”. “Even [the French president Emmanuel] Macron in the room
didn’t suggest otherwise”, a source said.
A spokesman for the Élysée Palace had said on
Saturday evening that any further delay “was not in anyone’s interest” and
urged the Commons to vote on the revised deal.
The chair of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs
committee, Norbert Röttgen, who is a senior member of Angela Merkel’s CDU
party, tweeted: “Johnson sent the letter, asking EU leaders for another Brexit
extension. The European council should now grant a final long one, giving the
UK time to sort itself out & to prepare for all possible resolutions including
a second referendum. Meanwhile [the] EU could deal with other pressing issues.”
The European parliament, which is sitting in
Strasbourg this week, will only ratify after the deal has been approved by the
Commons.
MEPs next sit on the 14 November unless there is an
extraordinary session scheduled, making 30 November a potential new Brexit day
should the Commons approve by then.