EU leaders yesterday were expected to unlock the next stage of Brexit negotiations at a summit after applauding British Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce proposals.
Her 27 counterparts were set to agree there has been sufficient progress on key separation issues, including Britain’s exit bill and the Irish border, to move talks onto the future relationship, but the EU was likely to stress that while it would start talks on a post-Brexit transition next month, it would not begin trade talks until March as they need more clarity on Britain’s goals for life after it leaves in 2019.
After May on Thursday addressed them over dinner in Brussels, the leaders gave her a round of applause, while saying Britain had to spell out what it wanted quickly.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said May had made “good offers that imply that the 27 will see sufficient progress,” but added that “there remain many issues to be solved and we don’t have much time.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said May was a “formidable political operator” who should not be underestimated.
“Now two things are crucial. First is that we put the handshake of last Friday into legally binding agreements,” Rutte said. “At the same time, for the UK to come forward with their wishes, their ideas on what the future relationship with the EU will be.”
May sealed the divorce deal with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday last week after months of tortuous negotiations.
It covers Britain’s financial settlement, the future of the Irish border and expatriate rights, while the next stage is to cover trade and a transition period.
Over dinner on the first night of the summit, May was “clear about wanting to move onto trade talks as quickly as possible,” a British official said.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
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