Next steps

meeting on May 16 but could meet sooner for Brexit. The guidelines will include the three “divorce” issues the EU wants to deal with before talks on any future trade deal: Britain’s exit bill, the rights of EU citizens in Britain and vice versa, and the flashpoint border in Northern Ireland.

EU ministers will formally give Barnier the mandate to start negotiations so that formal Britain-EU talks actually begin, nearly a year after Britain voted to leave. Informal talks however could begin earlier to work out practical issues such as what language the talks will be held in — Barnier is French — and the timetable

“There’s nothing to stop us talking about procedure before we get the mandate as long as we are not actually negotiating,” one diplomat told AFP.

The EU says it will only discuss the leaving bill, citizens rights and Northern Ireland at first. It will only move on to a trade deal once they are sorted out.

Barnier has set October 2018 as the latest feasible date for a draft Brexit deal to give it time to be approved by the British Parliament, by EU leaders and by the European Parliament, which will have the final say.

The European Parliament will hold a crucial binding vote on the Brexit deal. National parliaments may also vote on it.

Britain will formally leave the EU two years after the notification of Article 50. Whether that happens with a new trade deal included, a transitional arrangement while one is sorted out, or no trade deal remains to be seen.

Even if Britain does manage to make a deal with the EU, the accord is likely to be partial or transitional.

A full deal for the future relationship will probably take years — up to seven years according to Tusk, or even a decade, according to reported comments by Britain’s former ambassador to the EU.