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Brexit might take so long as twenty years to get EU approval until the 2 sides agree a "precise" blueprint in October, Guy Verhofstadt has stated.
The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator needs the UK to have an "association agreement" with the EU.
He informed the UK MPs' Brexit committee he needed to see clear particulars of how that may work within the Autumn.
If there was room for misunderstanding it might take a very long time for the EU to ratify it, he warned.
The EU and UK are hoping to publish the ultimate withdrawal settlement and a political assertion on future relations in October or November so it may be voted on by MPs at Westminster and MEPs within the European Parliament.
Mr Verhofstadt stated the settlement needed to be revealed by the top of 2018 on the newest, to present the European Parliament sufficient time to ratify earlier than the UK formally leaves the EU in March.
He stated it could take all the two-year transition interval, which is because of kick in after Brexit on 29 March 2019, to kind out the main points of future trading relations between the EU and UK.
But he warned MPs that it could take a lot longer if the political assertion revealed within the autumn was not clear sufficient about what variety of relationship the EU was going to have with the UK.
The benefit of an affiliation settlement, he argued, was that it could be a versatile framework, permitting for a "very narrow" relationship primarily based on commerce alone, or a "very broad" relationship.
And it could keep away from the prospect of an "inflation of agreements between the EU and the UK" in a lot of totally different areas as the 2 sides hammered out their variations through the transition interval.
If, he informed the MPs, "this whole bunch of agreements will be put in the ratification machine of the European Union, including the member states, we are going to be in ratificationand in uncertaintyfor more than one decade, even two decades".
The European Parliament set out particulars of what it means by an "association agreement"one thing the EU usually indicators with aspiring member international locations equivalent to Ukrainein a draft decision in March.
It would open the door to continued cooperation with some EU establishments, though Mr Verhofstadt stated the UK would nonetheless must be kicked out schemes such because the European Arrest Warrant and the Galileo satellite tv for pc navigation system when it turned a "third country" outdoors the EU.
UK Brexit Secretary David Davis stated final month he had no "intrinsic objection" to an "association agreement" nevertheless it "depends what's in it", including that he wouldn't settle for the continued jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
Mr Verhofstadt, who can also be because of give proof later to the Home Affairs Committee, stated Brexit had elevated the "popularity" of the EU in different member states and that it had reignited debate about reform of its establishments.
He stated he was wanting ahead to the UK authorities's Brexit White Paper, which he hoped would give extra particulars about the way to resolve sticking factors such because the Irish border and ECJ membership.
"I think that is it still possible to have for October/November an agreement on the political declaration. For that we need to speed up, certainly the negotiations in the coming months."