EU Gives May 2 Weeks to Act on Divorce Bill and Ireland

Theresa May has been told she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the EU is to agree to begin Brexit trade talks before the end of the year, reported BBC. 

EU Council President Donald Tusk said he was "ready" to move onto the next phase of Brexit talks, covering future relations with the UK.

But he said the UK must show much more progress on the "divorce bill" and the Irish border by early next month.

Mrs May said "good progress" was being made but more needed to be done.

The talks are currently deadlocked over the UK's financial settlement, citizens' rights and Ireland with Irish PM Leo Varadkar accusing the UK of not "thinking through" the implications of Brexit for his country.

A week ago, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier informed his UK counterpart David Davis he had a fortnight to spell out in more detail what he was prepared to pay the EU to "settle its accounts" and to clarify how trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland and security across the 310 mile border would be preserved after the UK leaves the single market and customs union.

After holding talks with Mrs May on the margins of a jobs summit in Sweden, Mr Tusk repeated the message, saying "much more" progress was needed on these two issues if he was to recommend to EU leaders at their next meeting on 14 December to give the green light to the next phase of talks.

He said he would meet Mrs May in a week's time to assess progress but warned time was running out for a breakthrough before the end of 2017.

"We will be ready to move on to the second phase already in December," he said.

"But in order to do that we need to see more progress from the UK side.

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