EU's Barnier Warns U.K. to Focus on Exit or Risk No Brexit Deal
EU's Barnier Warns U.K. to Focus on Exit or Risk No Brexit Deal
- The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator said the U.K. must
settle the details of its divorce from the EU before discussing any
future free-trade deal or risk crashing out without an accord, in a
rebuff to Prime Minister Theresa May.
“The U.K. government will
push for parallel negotiations on the withdrawal and the future
relationship,” Michel Barnier told the European Parliament in
Strasbourg, France. “This is a very risky approach. To succeed, we need
on the contrary to devote the first phase of negotiations exclusively to
reaching an agreement on the principles of the exit.”