European Council President Donald Tusk has said leaders of the 27 remaining European Union nations have given the ‘green light’ to preparations for the second phase of talks, as the prime minister pledged her “unconditional commitment” to European defence.
The announcement comes after a series of appeasements made by Prime Minister Theresa May on the transition period, the European Court of Justice, and recently her offer to pay a Brexit ‘divorce bill’ of €20 billion which President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajan called “peanuts”, demanding tens of billions more.
She has also conceded on EU migrants’ residency rights in the UK after sources revealed that a deal between Britain and the EU on the matter is now “done and dusted” and that any EU migrants arriving in Britain before its formal departure from the bloc in 2019 will be allowed to acquire “settled status”, leading to fears of a migrant influx and mass family reunifications pushing net migration to record levels.
Hitherto, European figures have repeatedly dismissed Britain’s attempts at broadening negotiations by claiming “no sufficient progress” had been made.
Addressing press from Brussels Friday morning, Mrs. May twice reiterated the United Kingdom’s “committed partnership” with the EU, pointing to pledges related to EU defence.
“As I said before, the UK is unconditionally committed to the defence of Europe. We share the vision of a secure and stable EU… and for the EU to be capable of countering threats to our continent,” she said.
Demonstrating her “commitment” to what she calls a “partnership” with the bloc that 17.4 million Britons voted to leave in June 2016, she said: “I spoke to my fellow leaders about my vision for a new deep and special partnership between the UK and EU after Brexit.
“A partnership based on the same fundamental beliefs in not just democracy and rule of law, but also free trade, rigourous and fair competition, strong comsumer rights, and high regulatory standards.”
On the rights of EU migrants, she said she and her EU partners “share the same objective of safeguarding the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU,” adding that they were in “in touching distance of a deal” on “migrant rights”.
Taking questions from the press, May refused the answer several times questions on the Brexit divorce bill and whether it could be as high as a speculated €60 billion, and evaded questions on the extent to which her government was planning for a “no deal” scenario.
Formal trade talks could possibly take place in December, when EU leaders are next scheduled to meet.