'Time to get down to work': EU and UK resume Brexit talks
- 7 years ago
British and EU negotiators are meeting again in Brussels for the second round of Brexit talks on the UK’s departure from the union.
The message from both sides: now is when the serious business begins.
The weekend saw more reports in the UK of a government split over future trading relations.
But first the talks will cover citizens’ rights, the bill the UK must pay, and what happens to the border between Northern Ireland outside the EU, and the Republic inside the bloc.
At a joint news conference both chief negotiators stressed the need to start tackling fine details.
“We will now delve into the heart of the matter. We need to examine and compare our respective positions in order to make good progress,” said the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
“For us, it’s incredibly important we now make good progress, we will negotiate and identify the differences so we can deal with them and identify the similarities and we will enforce that and now it’s time to get down to work and make this a successful negotiation,” added his UK counterpart, David Davis.
There was no further comment from either side. It will be later in the week before both sides brief the media again (“Thursday”, Barnier said as the news conference ended, with Davis adding “work!” as they left the stage).
The message from both sides: now is when the serious business begins.
The weekend saw more reports in the UK of a government split over future trading relations.
But first the talks will cover citizens’ rights, the bill the UK must pay, and what happens to the border between Northern Ireland outside the EU, and the Republic inside the bloc.
At a joint news conference both chief negotiators stressed the need to start tackling fine details.
“We will now delve into the heart of the matter. We need to examine and compare our respective positions in order to make good progress,” said the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
“For us, it’s incredibly important we now make good progress, we will negotiate and identify the differences so we can deal with them and identify the similarities and we will enforce that and now it’s time to get down to work and make this a successful negotiation,” added his UK counterpart, David Davis.
There was no further comment from either side. It will be later in the week before both sides brief the media again (“Thursday”, Barnier said as the news conference ended, with Davis adding “work!” as they left the stage).