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Interesting Art 50 question: if the UK asks for a short extension, can the European Council grant a longer one, and override the UK's request? Text Art 50 does not say that there needs to be agreement about the length. 1/
The extension could in fact be articulated in terms which allow both a short extension - in the event the WA gets approved and ratified - and a longer one. 2/
This could be done by stating that the extension lasts until the entry into force of the WA, and failing that, until a given date (long extension). That would avoid having to go back for a longer extension. 3/
I also think the extension can come with conditions. One of those could relate to EP elections. These conditions would not even have to be set out in the original extension decision. 4/
The Eur Council could give itself the power to make arrangements later, by continuing to be seized of the matter, in the interest of an orderly withdrawal process. That could include making certain arrangements for EP elections. 5/
I also think that, if the WA passes MV3, next week, the European Council should make extension conditional on the provisional application of the WA. 6/
What that means is that the UK Government would commit itself to starting to apply the WA, provisionally, for as long as it has not been ratified in the UK. The latter requires legislation, and who knows what will happen to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. 7/
There is indeed a serious risk that MV3 passes, but that the legislation fails to pass. If there is a short extension, the cliff edge then looms at the end of June. Moreover, this gives an incentive to the hard Brexiteers to resist the legislation and get no-deal. 8/
I would argue that the Art 218 provisions on provisional application extend to the WA. International law allows this any way. And it gets around further political gamesmanship. If the WA starts applying any way, no use resisting its incorporation in UK law. 9/
And the provisional can last for a long time. The GATT - the WTO's predecessor - was applied provisionally between 1947 and ... 1995. END
