BREXIT BREAKTHROUGH

€86b DIVORCE DEAL BETWEEN BRITAIN AND EU PAVES WAY FOR TRADE TALKS

brussels/london — Britain and the European Union struck a divorce deal on Friday that paves the way for talks on trade, easing pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May and boosting hopes of an orderly Brexit.

The European Commission said “sufficient progress” had been made after London, Dublin and Belfast worked through the night to break an impasse over the status of the Irish border that had scuppered an attempt to clinch a deal on Monday.

PM May, speaking in Brussels, said the deal opened the way for talks that would bring certainty to Britain’s future after quitting the EU. European Council President Donald Tusk cautioned, though, that while breaking up was hard, building a new relationship would be even harder.

“So much time has been devoted to the easier part of the task,” Tusk said. “And now, to negotiate a transition arrangement and the framework for our future relationship, we have de facto less than a year.”

One senior banker said the deal signalled Britain was heading towards a much closer postBrexit relationship with the EU than many had feared, indicating that trade will keep flowing between the world’s biggest trading bloc and its sixth-largest national economy.

The Commission gave its verdict in a statement after May took an earlymorning flight to Brussels to announce the deal alongside Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at a news conference just after 0730 local time.

Sterling climbed to a six-month high against the euro on Friday, with one euro worth 86.9 pence, and bond yields across the eurozone rising in early Friday trade. Against the US dollar the pound hovered near a four-day high against a backdrop of broader dollar strength. Moving to talks about trade and a Brexit transition was crucial for the future of May’s premiership which was thrown into doubt when she lost her party its majority in a snap election in June.

Pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers rallied around her after the deal, a possible signal that the party — which has been split over EU membership for generations — was not preparing to ditch her immediately.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, congratulated May, adding that Britain would now take back control of its laws, money and borders.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove, another prominent Brexit campaigner, called it a “significant personal political achievement”, and Suella Fernandes, head of an influential group of Conservatives praised the “pragmatic and flexible” approach.

The Commission’s recommendation that sufficient progress has been made will now go to an EU summit of leaders on December 14-15. “Prime Minister May has assured me that it has the backing of the UK government. On that basis, I believe we have now made the breakthrough we need. Today’s result is of course a compromise,” Juncker told the hastily-arranged news conference.

May said she expected a formal agreement to be approved at the summit. “I also look forward to next week’s European Council meeting, where I hope and expect we will be able to get the endorsement of the 27 [member countries] to what is a hard-won agreement in all our interests,” May said. —