Britain could ask the European Union for a Brexit delay even after the bloc's March 21-22 summit, a senior diplomat said, suggesting that the decisive moment for the stalled divorce deal might still be some time ahead. The other 27 EU member states staying on together after Brexit need to agree unanimously to Britain's request for any Brexit delay beyond the current leave date of March 29 at midnight (2300 GMT). EU diplomats said on Monday that national leaders of the 27 do not necessarily need to meet physically to approve any such request if it came from London. "It's not necessary to meet, we also have written procedure," the diplomat said. "We have to have all our procedure completed one hour before midnight, Brussels time." The diplomat added, however: "Everybody prefers to do it in an orderly way at the Council" — referring to the Thursday-Friday talks of all EU leaders in Brussels. As the EU ponders the legal and political consequences of any Brexit delay, it also awaits a possible third vote in the divided UK parliament on Prime Minister Theresa May's divorce agreement with the bloc. "The hope of course is that it will be possible to ratify a deal this week in advance of the EU leaders' summit," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in Brussels on Sunday night. Coveney said the EU would then grant May a short Brexit delay to give Britain time to pass all necessary supporting legislation. "If the British parliament doesn't ratify the withdrawal agreement this week, then I think the British government is likely to ask for a much longer extension." May has warned her fractious parliament that unless it approves her Brexit divorce pact after two crushing defeats, Britain's exit from the EU could face a long delay which many Brexiteers fear would mean Britain may never leave. A vote could come this week though British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in Brussels on Monday that it would go ahead only if the government was certain it would win. A document circulated among the 27 EU ambassadors by the bloc's legal services on Friday said Britain would retain the same rights and obligations of membership as now if it extended the two-year limit envisaged by EU law on negotiating divorce. The document said that "in principle", Britain could get more than one extension. But it warned that the EU must prevent any Brexit delays from damaging the legitimacy of the bloc's new European Parliament, which will convene for the first time on July 2 following May 24-26 elections across the bloc. "No extension should be granted beyond 1 July unless the European Parliament elections are held at the mandatory date," read the document, seen by Reuters. "If an initial extension puts the withdrawal date after the date of the European Parliament elections, and if these elections were not organized by the withdrawing state, this would make any further extension impossible." Some in the EU worry that Britain could extend until the end of June while eschewing the European elections and then revoke its leave notice, which it could do unilaterally by law, rendering the status of the bloc's new parliament in doubt. The EU is wary of undermining the parliament's legal standing in part because it will play a role in electing the new executive Commission later in the year. The bloc wants no question marks over the legitimacy of its institutions. The EU insists it would only negotiate on future trade ties with Britain after their divorce is settled, and the note stresses that any long extension would amount to "a significant postponement" of the start of these talks. — Reuters
