UPDATE - Brexit transition period to end Dec. 31, 2020, EU says

UPDATES WITH COMMENTS FROM EU CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, MORE DETAILS

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Any transition period for Brexit should not last beyond Dec. 31, 2020, the EU said Wednesday.

A document released by the EU recommended the final day for the transition period -- which was agreed to be in place following the likely Brexit date of March 29, 2019 -- will be the end of 2020.

“The transitional arrangements should apply as from the date of entry into force of the Withdrawal Agreement and should not last beyond 31 December 2020,” it read.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier also confirmed the date at a press conference in Brussels.

Barnier said it would be logical for the transition period to end then because that also coincides with the last day of the EU’s current seven-year budget.

“The transition period is useful and it will enable the public administration in Britain to get prepared for the challenges they have to face,” Barnier said.

The terms of the transition period are still to be negotiated between the two sides.

Barnier said that during the transition the U.K. would have to apply all EU laws, including the ones agreed on during 2019, but would have no voice in the bloc’s decision-making mechanisms.

The date for Brexit, when the transition period is set to start, is planned for March 29, 2019, but British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons on Wednesday that in “exceptional circumstances” the government would be willing to delay Brexit for a short period of time.

- Calls for second referendum

Meanwhile, the pro-EU Liberal Democrat Party has proposed a second referendum on Brexit.

It suggested a 12-week campaign starting in September 2018 to give the U.K. the option to accept a deal or stay in the EU.

Party leader Vince Cable said a referendum should be timed to coincide with EU states’ own votes to ratify the final Brexit deal.

The U.K. government has ruled out a second referendum since the original one, saying there would not be another referendum on the issue.

British voters opted to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016.