BRUSSELS: Prime Minister Theresa May urged the EU to “step forward together” with Britain on Friday as the bloc’s leaders hoped she would finally offer a compromise to reach a Brexit divorce deal in December.
The embattled British premier was set to meet EU President Donald Tusk on the sidelines of a summit with ex-Soviet states in Brussels in a bid to unlock negotiations on a future trade deal.
Impatient EU leaders were increasingly hopeful she would bring a new proposal on the thorny issue of Britain’s exit bill, after senior British ministers agreed earlier this week to improve the offer to a reported 40 billion euros ($47 billion).
Arriving in Brussels, May refused to deny she was ready to bump up the amount Britain would pay when she meets Tusk at 1530 GMT, but insisted any such move must be tied to a final deal on future relations next year.
“These negotiations are continuing but what I’m clear about is that we must step forward together. This is for both the UK and the European Union to move to the next stage,” she told reporters.
At a meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden a week ago, Tusk gave May until the start of December to make “much more progress” in order to unlock trade negotiations at an EU summit on December 14-15.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel appeared to offer tentative support after meeting May at the summit, saying on Twitter: “Clarity on our future relations is in everyone’s interest.”
May will also meet her counterparts from Lithuania and Denmark.
The EU insists Britain must tie up divorce terms — the bill, the Irish border and the rights of EU nationals living in Britain — before there can be any talks on future relations.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was more confident than before about a deal but said nothing would be decided before he had dinner with May on December 4.
“The actual final phase begins on December 4. There is some movement, I don’t know in which direction, but I hope in the right direction,” the former Luxembourg prime minister said as he arrived.
EU member states have become increasingly impatient for Britain to comply, and increasingly worried that May’s fragile Conservative government is unable to do so even if it wanted to.
— AFP
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