On Tuesday 29 October, the European Council formally approved, by written procedure, the new three-month extension granted to the United Kingdom for the period covered by Article 50 of the Treaty, which may run until 31 January 2020.
In the event of ratification of the withdrawal agreement by both the British and European parliaments before that date, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU may take place on either 1 December 2019 or 1 January 2020. In its decision, the European Council reaffirms that the United Kingdom will be required to respect its obligations as a Member State during this period.
However, there are likely to be parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom in December, in which event the process of reviewing and approving the agreement that has been negotiated with the EU Twenty-Seven will not occur before they take place.
This was the decision made by the members of the British House of Commons on Tuesday 29 October, before they voted later that evening on the precise date of the election. However, the day's debates complicated Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plans: amendments tabled by the Labour Party included proposals to extend the right to vote to the 3.4 million Europeans living in the UK. Boris Johnson stated that this would be a novel approach that risked undermining the whole election plan (very few EU countries grant the right to vote in general elections to non-nationals).
After the Prime Minister’s motion proposing an election on 12 December was rejected, Labour ended its opposition to the election, because, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn explained, the Labour Party is now convinced that a no-deal Brexit on 31 October has finally been ruled out following the new 3-month extension. In principle, MPs should be voting on the precise date of the election some time during the evening.
From the EU’s perspective, this means that nothing will happen with regard to Westminster's ratification of the agreement before the election, as the British Parliament will need to be suspended for the election. See the decision of the European Council: http://bit.ly/2NmPFwN (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)