BRUSSELS (AP) – The Latest on Brexit (all times local):
11:40 a.m.
A senior EU official says it will take more than two years to hammer out all the details of Britain’s departure from the European Union.
The official, speaking in Brussels on Friday, said EU leaders should adopt the final mandate to begin the negotiations shortly after May 22, after Britain formally triggered the process this week.
The official said that “even with the best of efforts, it will not be possible to negotiate all those details” in two years.
EU negotiators have said the transition may extend beyond the two-year timeframe outlined in the EU exit process because of the myriad details of trade and other aspects of the divorce.
The official also said that only a summit of all remaining 27 EU leaders can decide when there is enough progress on the withdrawal talks to start looking at a future relationship between Britain and the EU. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.
– Raf Casert in Brussels
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10:45 a.m.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says “there’s lots of good will” among European Union partners since Britain triggered its divorce proceedings from the bloc.
Johnson, speaking in Brussels upon arrival for a NATO meeting Friday, said he has had good feedback from partners since Wednesday’s British announcement, despite worries on both sides of the Channel about Brexit.
“We really are moving forward now. There’s a lot of good will, willingness to achieve what the Prime Minister has said she wants to achieve,” he said.
He also insisted that Britain’s commitment to European defense and security is “unconditional” and “not some bargaining chip in any negotiations” over Brexit.
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10:15 a.m.
EU Council President Donald Tusk says there will be no parallel talks on Britain’s exit and future relations with the European Union.
Tusk insisted Friday after a meeting in Malta that withdrawal from the bloc comes ahead of any new relationship with Britain. But he also said the EU will not punish the U.K. in the exit talks, and that the so-called Brexit is punitive enough.
Tusk put guidelines on Britain’s exit to the remaining 27 EU members Friday.
The head of the rotating EU presidency, Joseph Muscat, said citizens in Britain and other EU nations should not be used a “bargaining chips.”
Muscat said the Brexit negotiations will be tough but “it will not be a war.”
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9:00 a.m.
The guidelines that European Union Council President Donald Tusk is putting to EU members make it clear that withdrawal from the bloc comes ahead of any new relationship with Britain even though the rough outlines such a relationship may partially overlap.
In the draft guidelines obtained by the Associated Press, it says that first the EU and Britain must “settle the disentaglement” of Britain from the EU but added that “an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship could be identified during the second phase of the negotiations under Article 50.”
The guidelines also say the issue of citizens living in each other’s countries is a priority, and call for “flexible and imaginative solutions” for the issue of the U.K.’s land border with Ireland.