EU leaders endorse guidelines to negotiate Brexit

Top priorities are safeguarding citizens’ rights and meeting financial obligations

BRUSSELS — The leaders of the European Union met Saturday in Brussels without Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain and unanimously endorsed guidelines to negotiate the end of more than four decades of British membership in the bloc.

The summit meeting is the first of its kind at which 27 leaders made a formal decision in a slimmed down format, minus Britain and Ms. May.

The leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France, backed a tough strategy on negotiating Britain’s exit, or Brexit, which could eventually force the government in London to make politically awkward choices.

The idea is to force Britain to reach a deal on the terms of its divorce before starting talks on relations afterward.

“Obviously we will stand up for our interests as Britain too will stand up for its interests,” Ms. Merkel told a news conference after the summit meeting. “We’re trying to forge a strong European Union of 27. This is the sort of spirit with which we approach these negotiations.”

The adoption of the guidelines was followed by “a general round of applause,” Ms. Merkel noted.

One of the thorniest issues is getting Britain to guarantee that the 3 million citizens of other EU nations who are living in Britain and the 1.2 million Britons living in the European Union can maintain their residency rights and other entitlements.

Safeguarding citizens’ rights was “priority No. 1,” Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, the body that represents the bloc’s leaders, told a news conference after the meeting. “Today’s discussion made clear that when it comes to reaching a decision on citizens’ rights not only speed is of the essence but above all quality, as so many people’s lives depend on it,” he said.

The leaders also called on Britain to meets its outstanding financial obligations so that other member states can avoid paying higher costs after the British withdrawal. The outstanding bill could amount to as much as 60 billion euros, about $65 billion. But British citizens and politicians are balking at paying such a large sum.

Another key issue: pushing Britain to maintain a free flow of trade and people between Northern Ireland, which will leave the bloc with Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which will remain a full member of the European Union.

Britain also needs to abide by the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, including keeping the door open to the possible unification of Ireland.

In March, Ms. May formally started the two-year process of leaving the European Union, and the weekend gathering in Brussels is the logical consequence of that step, taken after a majority of the British electorate voted for Brexit 10 months ago.

Yet, Ms. May is confronting European leaders who are more optimistic about their joint future than they have been in several years.

European leaders are emboldened by mostly positive economic news in recent months and by the defeats of ferocious opponents of the bloc in elections in Austria and the Netherlands. The Europeans are also broadly optimistic that Emmanuel Macron, the centrist candidate in the French presidential elections, will prevail over Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front in the final round on May 7.

That Mr. Macron is her preferred candidate to become the next French president was not “all that surprising,” Ms. Merkel told the news conference.

The demand that Britain first make “sufficient progress” on assuring the rights of citizens of other member nations, on settling its bill and on safeguarding Irish peace and prosperity before talking about a trade deal amounts to a blow for Ms. May. But it seems unlikely to dent her chances of being re-elected in a snap election she called for June 8 in order to have a stronger mandate in Brexit negotiations.

Even so, Britain badly needs a trade deal, or a transitional arrangement, to avoid facing barriers to the 440 million EU consumers who are the biggest buyers of exports from Britain after it leaves the bloc, as soon as 2019.

Although Ms. May has backed away from suggestions that her country could simply walk away without a trade deal, Ms. Merkel has warned that some in Britain still had “illusions” about what the nation stood to gain during the two-year negotiations.

Ms. May has since accused European countries of preparing to “line up to oppose us.”

Ms. Merkel said she felt the need to clarify that there was “no conspiracy against the British” on the part of the EU because of its demand for a divorce settlement before a discussion on a future relationship.

The leaders reached agreement on the guidelines unusually swiftly, in mere minutes, at the start of a working lunch of duckling, and lemon and strawberry sorbet. During the afternoon, they discussed the coming talks with the main negotiator, Michel Barnier, a former French foreign minister. Mr. Barnier has said he wanted to wrap up talks by October 2018.

Much is at stake for the countries remaining in the bloc. They must overcome their habitual squabbling and balance their desire to keep trade and military ties with Britain while ensuring that it does not enjoy the same benefits as a member of the bloc.

They are also wary of Britain turning itself into a lowtax haven with weakened regulations that would undercut European neighbors.

Another source of acrimony could be competition among more than a dozen member states to host the European Medicines Agency, which must move from London. A number of states also are competing to host the European Banking Authority, also currently based in London. Mr. Hollande, the French president, told a news conference Saturday that decisions on the locations for the agencies could be made in the fall.