Thirty-Four Months On: What Next For BREXIT?

On 10 April, an emergency meeting of the European Council was convened to discuss the latest developments on Brexit. On 5 April, the Prime Minister wrote to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, asking for a further extension to the Article 50 period, to 30 June.

The European Council agreed to a six-month flexible extension to 31 October. If the UK Parliament ratifies the Withdrawal Agreement before this date, the UK can leave the bloc earlier. It became clear that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, led the resistance to the EU27 offering the UK a longer extension of a year. Yet even this six-month extension requires the UK to participate in election for the European Parliament on 23 May (unless a deal can be agreed before this date), and the EU27 will be monitoring whether the UK will act in ‘good faith’ over the coming months.