The discussion held between the United Kingdom and the European Union has suggested British Prime Minister Theresa May to ask for a three-month delay to her Brexit deal if the UK parliament backs the deal but isn’t signed off until an EU conference on March 21-22.
According to Bloomberg news reports, the EU views this as a “technical extension” to give the parliament time to pass the necessary legislation related to its departure from the EU. Anything that is longer than three months would put Britain under pressure to take part in the European elections on Mary 23-26, a thing which both the sides are keen to avoid.
The prime minister is racing against the clock in order to change the controversial part of her deal that is known as the “backstop”, in the way that would be acceptable for both the bloc and UK parliament.
However, only five weeks are left until the UK’s scheduled departure from the bloc and the dialogues at an impasse, lawmakers and ministers in her own party opposing her deal and threatening to vote against her next week to provide power to the UK parliament.
May has repeatedly spoken out against the delay, stating that she wants to take the UK out of the bloc as scheduled. She has never completely ruled that out, however. And, any postponement would need to be requested by the parliament and accepted by all remaining 27 EU governments.
EU officials said, under their optimistic scenario, the three-month delay would happen. Although, the risk remains that the parliament could leave the bloc without any deal on March 29.
According to one official, alternatively, May could be forced to contemplate a longer delay if she can’t get backing for the agreement.
U.K. and EU negotiators are continuing talks in Brussels to find a legal guarantee that the backstop arrangement preventing a hard Irish border, contained in the divorce deal, would apply only temporarily.