May faces Brexit pressure at EU reform summit

GOTHENBURG (Sweden): EU leaders will press British Prime Minister Theresa May to do more to reach a divorce deal against the backdrop of a summit to launch reforms for the bloc’s post-Brexit survival.

The Brexit crisis threatens to overshadow the meeting in the Swedish port city of Gothenburg, which is supposed to focus on fair jobs and growth in the European Union.

May will hold talks with EU President Donald Tusk and her Irish and Swedish counterparts as a deadline looms for Britain to make enough progress to move on to trade talks in December.

“Tusk will inform May that such a positive scenario is not a given, will require more work and that time is short,” an EU source said.

Former Polish premier Tusk “will ask May how the UK plans to progress” on key issues before negotiations can advance to the next phase, which includes post-Brexit trade ties and a transition period.

The EU demands that Britain makes sufficient progress on its exit bill, on avoiding a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the EU state of Ireland, and on the rights of three million EU citizens living in Britain.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned last week that Britain had two weeks to meet the bloc’s conditions if it wanted an agreement at the next EU summit in Brussels in December. Failure to do so would push back a decision until February or March, leaving little time for trade talks before Brexit in March 2019. — AFP