May to travel to Brussels for meetings with EU’s Barnier, Juncker

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British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on January 24, 2017. The British government must win parliament's approval before starting talks to leave the EU, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, in a landmark judgement that also said regional lawmakers had no say. / AFP / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Brussels on Monday to meet with the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and head of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, May’s office said on Sunday.

May will travel with Brexit minister David Davis for the meetings, which, her office said, were a long-planned part of the prime minister’s build-up to a European Council summit on Thursday.

The summit is seen as a critical point in Britain’s stalling efforts to negotiate an exit deal with the EU after Brussels said last week the latest round of negotiations had ended in deadlock over money.

EU leaders could hand May an olive branch at the summit by launching their own internal preparations for a transition to a new relationship with Britain.

May spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier on Sunday and the two agreed on the need for continued constructive progress in the exit talks, an earlier statement from May’s office said.