STOCKHOLM (AP) – Sweden has a tough-love message for Britain as it prepares to trigger its European Union exit: A deal within two years is unlikely, striking a good agreement will be a struggle and the U.K. will have to pay a big bill before it is allowed out the door.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says it will be “very tough” to seal a deal between Britain and the 27-nation bloc by 2019, the timeframe laid out in EU rules.
British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to invoke Article 50 of the key EU treaty, starting the formal exit process, by March 31. That sets a two-year clock ticking down to a deal – or to Britain crashing out of the EU without one.
Lofven said it’s “optimistic” to think the U.K. can be disentangled from the bloc’s web of laws, benefits and obligations by March 2019.
“I have said from the start that I think this is going to be very tough, to do all these things within two years,” he told the Associated Press.