Chief Brexit negotiators met on Monday to begin a third round of talks.
ADVERTISEMENTThe European Union and Britain started a third round of Brexit negotiations on Monday.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier berated the British government for what he perceives as a lack of focus and insufficient progress over the last five months since divorce proceedings were triggered.
“We must start negotiations seriously” he said. “We need UK papers that are clear in order to have constructive negotiations and the sooner we remove the ambiguity the sooner we will be in a position to discuss the future relationship and a transitional period.”
However, David Davies was focusing more on the long term issues, looking towards a future relationship with the bloc.
“For the United Kingdom, the week ahead is about to driving forward the technical discussion across all the issues, all the issues: we want to lock in the points where we agree and unpick the areas where we disagree and make further progress on the whole range of issues. But in order to do that, we will require flexibility and imagination on both sides.”
Both sides are facing a March 2019 deadline to seal a deal for Britain to leave the EU.
The bulk of the negotiations need to wrap up next year to allow for formal ratification by both sides.