This is a subscriber-only article
The British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, was the most upbeat about progress in the latest talks.
The fourth round of negotiations started on Monday and concluded this Thursday with renewed vigour after Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech last Friday in Florence.
“And while – inevitably – this requires further discussion, I believe that thanks to the constructive and determined manner with which both sides have conducted these negotiations we are making decisive steps forward,” Davis said.
Implementation period
Davis also believes the implementation period, as set out by May, will give more clarity to people and businesses on the Brexit issue.
“The Prime Minister’s speech sets out the scale of our ambition here as well as our proposal for a simple, clear, time-limited period of implementation.”
We are not yet there
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier was more cautious. “We’ve had a constructive week – yes – but we are not yet there in terms of achieving sufficient progress,” he said at the close of the talks.
Both sides confirmed they had started to draft common principles on retaining the common travel area between Ireland and the UK, but Barnier highlighted the remaining issues on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit.
On the UK’s financial liability to the EU Barnier said the UK had clarified its willingness to maintain its contribution to the EU budget until 2020 only.
Longer-term commitments arising from the UK’s past membership of the EU remain to be clarified.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled to start on 9 October.
Latest round of Brexit negotiations begin
SHARING OPTIONS: