The 4th round of Brexit talks failed again to bring long-expected concrete results from both sides of the English Channel though Britain’s Brexit Secretary David Davis told reporters Thursday in Brussels that “considerable progress has been made in issues that matters”.
“Negotiation teams have drafted principles on common travel area between Britain and Ireland and have conducted constructive talks on details of Britain’s financial responsibility after Brexit,” said Davis at a press conference following the fourth round of the talks.
But for his part, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said, “We failed to agree on the continuous rule of EU court after Brexit and we are not there yet for concrete results and more works need to be done in next weeks and months.”
The talks, the fourth of its kind, came on the heels of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s high-profile speech in the Italian city of Florence spelling out Britain’s plans to leave the EU.
In her speech on Friday, May proposed a two-year transition period after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.
She also pledged that Britain would pay “fair share” into the EU budget, a hint that London would budge on the touchy issue of the “divorce bill”.
Commenting on May’s Brexit speech in Florence, Barnier said her speech had created a “new dynamic in talks”.
Barnier, however, warned, “We will need several weeks, even several months, to be able to see sufficient progress on the principles of this orderly departure.”
