The European Parliament expects to be able to endorse any deal with London just two weeks before Britain leaves the EU on March 29, a leading lawmaker said on September 3, highlighting how tight the schedule is to agree on divorce terms and future ties.
Danuta Hubner, head of the European parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, has said lawmakers will be able to endorse any Brexit deal just two weeks before Britain leaves the European Union on March 29. He said the target to hold a vote would be a plenary session due March 11-14.
“We have to vote during the first March plenary,” Hubner told her committee. “The second one (due March 25-28) will be too late because after us the Council (of all EU member states) must look into this again.”
As reported by the Reuters news agency, she said EU leaders did not know if they “will be successful in finalising negotiations in October, or they will slip to November.”
“Hopefully not beyond November,” she said, adding any further delay would greatly increase the risk of the most damaging scenario of a no-deal Brexit.
Parliament officials estimate the chamber of 751 lawmakers will need more than two months to process the agreement. Lawmakers are keen to subject it to proper scrutiny to make sure it does not look like a rubber stamp, reported Reuters.
