EU adopts
tough Brexit talks stance
BRUSSELS, April 29, 2017 (AFP) - European Union leaders unanimously adopted
their Brexit strategy at a special summit in Brussels on Saturday, in a show of
unity ahead of two years of tough talks with Britain.
The 27 leaders quickly agreed on the negotiating
guidelines as they met without Britain for the first time since Prime Minister
Theresa May triggered the divorce process a month ago.
They say talks on a future trade deal with Britain
can only start once London agrees divorce terms on citizens' rights, its exit
bill and Northern Ireland.
"Guidelines adopted unanimously. EU27 firm and
fair political mandate for the Brexit talks is ready," EU President Donald
Tusk said on Twitter, shortly after the summit began.
Leaders adopted the guidelines, unchanged, within
one minute, an EU source said.
Tusk earlier said leaders "need to remain
united as the EU 27" but said it was "also in Britain's
interest" if unity boosted the chances of a swift Brexit deal.
May this week accused the EU of ganging up on
London, in a war of words with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said Britain
had "illusions" about the talks.
Brexit has offered the EU a fresh chance at unity
after years of bitter internal divisions over the euro and migration, although
many still fear they could fall out during the talks.
- 'Cost for Britain' -
French President Francois Hollande said as he
arrived that "the aim of the summit is unity", adding that
"there will inevitably be a price and a cost for Britain."
Merkel said the EU wants "good relations"
with Britain but added that "we also want to defend, at 27, our common
interests -- so far we have done extremely well."
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier,
said the bloc had a "clear line" on the talks. "But this unity
is not directed against Britain, I think that it is also in its interest,"
he said.
The EU 27 have considerably toughened the guidelines
since Tusk first unveiled them a month ago, with Brussels also drawing up a
detailed list of citizens' rights.
Tusk said this issue -- the fate of three million EU
citizens living in Britain and one million Britons on the continent --
"must be number-one priority for EU and the UK."
Officials hope for agreement on this by the end of
the year.
In a further move that will rile London, the EU is
also set to back automatic membership for Northern Ireland if it reunifies with
Ireland, and call for Spain to have a say over any deal that affects Gibraltar.
The leaders will also discuss for the first time the
spoils of Brexit -- the relocation of EU medical and banking agencies that are
currently based in London.
The EU guidelines say that only when
"sufficient progress" has been made on divorce issues can these trade
talks begin, with sources saying they hope to do that by the end of the year.
EU leaders were discussing how to define this
progress after approving the guidelines at the summit, EU officials said.
- 'Theresa's Brexit' -
While the EU says citizens' rights is a priority,
the most touchy issue of all is likely to be Britain's exit bill.
This is estimated at around 60 billion euros ($65
million), which mainly covers financial commitments made by the bloc while
Britain was a member.
The bill is politically toxic for Britain but also
risks causing divisions among EU states as they debate how to plug any holes in
the EU's budget.
May's decision to call a general election in Britain
on June 8, in a bid to shore up her mandate and strengthen her negotiating
position, has only stiffened their resolve.
The elections are "an internal problem she
wants to resolve in the Conservative party, to have not a hard Brexit or a soft
Brexit, but Theresa's Brexit," said Luxembourg's prime minister Xavier
Bettel.
Actual Brexit talks are not expected to begin until
after the British election, although the EU is set to give an official mandate
to Barnier on May 22.
