To the long list of people who wish the U.K. hadn't participated in the European Parliament election, add 27 names.

In last month's pan-European ballot, 751 MEPs were elected — plus a further 27 who will only take up their seats when (or if) Brexit finally happens.

"It’s a weird situation," said Linea Søgaard-Lidell, who won a seat for the liberal Venstre party in Denmark, becoming her country's only Brexit bonus MEP. "No one knows what’s going to happen. I might be on standby for five years, or a few months."

If Brexit had happened as planned at the end of March, the new European Parliament would already have said goodbye to its 73 British MEPs. After Brexit, the plan is to redistribute 27 of the British seats across 14 member countries the EU deemed to be underrepresented. The rest will be held in reserve for any future enlargement of the bloc.

But the last-minute extension of the U.K.'s membership until the end of October meant a change in the arithmetic. Instead of a reduction in the overall number of MEPs and the redistribution of British seats, the Parliament has stayed the same size as it was in the last term. That means a new brigade of MEPs-elect are now stuck, unable to take their seats until the Brits finally leave.

"I really hope Brexit never happens. Ireland is affected by Brexit more than any other member state" — Barry Andrews, Irish MEP in limbo

Søgaard-Lidell had been planning to move to Brussels with her boyfriend if she was elected. "It has a big effect not only on professional life but also my personal life," she said.

Other reservists are incensed the EU allowed this situation to occur. "The Europe that has put us in this grotesque situation, that’s the Europe we must end," said Sandro Gozi, a former government minister in Italy who was elected on the list of Emmanuel Macron's La République en Marche in France.

Even though he is anti-Brexit, Gozi blames the European Council for agreeing to give the U.K. more time to pass the Brexit deal. "I would be very happy if the U.K. decided to remain, or rejoin, but [it would be] extremely wrong to postpone again after October 31," he said.

This means Gozi and other anti-Brexit MEPs-in-limbo are in an odd position, holding out for the very thing they oppose in order to take up their seats.

Fianna Fáil's Barry Andrews, who won a seat in Dublin, would seemingly prefer never to take up his seat in Brussels if it meant the U.K. stayed in the EU.

"I really hope Brexit never happens," he said. "Ireland is affected by Brexit more than any other member state. It's obviously a strange and unprecedented position to be elected [into]."

Søgaard-Lidell said she would be "disappointed for my own situation" but that "it would be for the better" if the Brits stayed in the EU. And Gozi said: "I would be very happy as a European, even if I had to wait a bit longer to join the European Parliament, if they withdrew Article 50."

However, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, from Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally in France, was calmer about the situation, perhaps because he believes Brexit has to happen. "I am for respecting what the people have decided," he said.

"Brexit or no Brexit ... There’s no obsession, no stress, no problems," he said. "I will keep being actively involved in politics."

Both Gozi and Andrews stressed that legally, they have been elected in their countries. "I do have a mandate for the people of Dublin," Andrews said.

But a European Parliament press officer reiterated that these 27 cold-storage MEPs have "no special status" until Brexit happens. In other words, in the EU's view, despite having won seats in the EU election, they are mere members of the public until the U.K. has left.

Gozi has dubbed those in his position "Picard MEPs," a tongue-in-cheek reference to the frozen-food supermarket chain. "I’m a totally frozen fish, I place faith in the British summer to melt the ice."

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