In DC for #SIEL2018 where @MichelBarnier spoke at the US Chambers of Commerce, so I could ask him about of my worries: prolonging the short transition period in the Withdrawal Agreement.
As a reminder: the transition period currently in the WA lasts 21 months - until the next multiannual financial framework starts. The WA does not provide for an extension.
That is problematic as 1) few people think that an EU-UK Association Agreement can be negotiated within the timeframe and 2) the EU cannot legally extend the transition after Brexit (IMHO, a matter of competences, discussed ad nauseam in the past)
He made three points: 1) the UK did not ask for an extension 2) extending transition into the new MFF requires difficult negotiations and 3) extending is legally problematic.
So no surprises. We have also discussed problem 3 on twitter before. The issue in that regard is that there is no clear limit provided anywhere, in fact even using Art. 50 for transition is already in a grey area...
