Is Brussels bowing to reality at long last?

THERESA May promised to drive home a final Brexit deal next year by ushering in a ‘new dynamic’ in negotiations as the EU opened trade talks yesterday.

The Prime Minister said the longawaited breakthrough heralded a new ‘spirit of co-operation’ with EU leaders as discussions enter a critical phase.

After months of clashes, the EU yesterday rubber-stamped a mandate to start drawing up a ‘wide-ranging’ free trade agreement with the UK.

Mrs May’s visit to Brussels for a summit of EU leaders also led to a chance encounter with the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who bent down to kiss her hand.

Mr Barnier, who briefed leaders on the state of Brexit talks, said yesterday’s development marks a decisive stage in what he called a ‘difficult and extraordinary negotiation’.

Speaking at the summit, Mrs May said: ‘I believe there is a new dynamic now in the negotiations… We are approaching this with a spirit of co-operation, a spirit of opportunity for the future.’

During the meeting, EU leaders backed the 21-month transition deal that Mrs May has requested to provide certainty to businesses.

During the transition period, which will run from Brexit day in March 2019 until December 2020, the UK will follow Brussels’ rules and remain under the control of EU judges.

British officials said the latest guidelines would serve as a blueprint for a good deal even though they currently set out a trade arrangement that falls short of Mrs May’s demands.

But EU officials sought to pour cold water on the optimism during a private discussion yesterday by drawing up ‘tactics’ over how to force Mrs May into scrapping her Brexit promises.

French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday heralded the agreement on the draft Brexit deal agreed earlier this week as a ‘great success’.

However, Mr Macron said that the text was incomplete and there would be ‘no agreement until everything agreed upon’.