Brexit WARNING: EU demands UK take part in EU elections if Brexit doesn’t happen by July

The EU will insist the UK holds a European Parliament election on May 23 if it wants to delay Brexit beyond July 1. After the EU election, the European Parliament will sit for the first time on July 2 and therefore the limit for an Article 50 extension is until the end of June. Member of the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group, Danuta Hubner, said each EU country is responsible for “ensuring that citizens have their representatives in the European Parliament”.

The MEP said the UK would face a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice if it denied its citizens representation in parliament.

She said if the UK were to refuse to hold an election, it would be a “breach of EU treaties and EU electoral law”.

She said: “Anything that would allow a member state not to have EU elections in a similar situation would require a revision of the treaties and the EU’s electoral law.

”So we don’t think it’s feasible.”

If Yvette Cooper’s amendment passes, MPs will debate and vote on how long the requested Brexit delay will be.

The proposal from the Labour MP calls for a vote on a draft Bill that would give parliament control over the Brexit process of Theresa May fails to secure backing for her deal by February 26.

Mrs Cooper has proposed there should be a delay of nine months, but senior Labour figures have said they are happy to shorten this to three.

The request to extend Article 50 would need to receive the unanimous backing of the 27 members states of the EU.

If Brexit were to be postponed for longer, the UK would have to elect 73 MEPs to take their seats in parliament to avoid a legal challenge.

Last month, UK MPs rejected Mrs May’s withdrawal deal in a record defeat.

European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, has told MEPs on the committee that any extension of Article 50 would “make things more difficult”.

source: express.co.uk