EU MEPs were worried about the UK being a disruptive influence if it gets a long article 50 extension

The Guardian are reporting that Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch MEP and deputy to the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, Guy Verhofstadt, told BBC’s Newsnight that MEPs were worried about the UK being a disruptive influence if it gets a long article 50 extension. She said:

"It cannot be that we will be held hostage by the UK for who knows, months, maybe a few years even.

We need to be absolutely sure that the UK is not going to disrupt the work of the European Union. And there is a big question mark of course. Some government leaders have said that we can just have a code of conduct and ask the UK to not disrupt the European Union.

And then the question is, how reliable would a pledge be from the United Kingdom that they are not going to do that? Because legally speaking, as long as the UK is a member you have full voting rights and there is absolutely no guarantee."

 

In other updates posted in The Guardian: