Brexit talks hit obstacle

BELGIUM: The European Union yesterday warned Britain it was still ‘‘months’’ away from being able to open Brexit trade negotiations as it emerged major divisions remained between the United Kingdom and the EU over the so-called Brexit bill.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, insisted that Britain would have to pay its full share of spending earmarked for the EU after Brexit, as the bloc’s own auditors criticised the EU for running up spending commitments of some £210 billion (NZ$390b) – an ‘‘all-time high’’.

At the end of four days of talks in Brussels, Barnier said: ‘‘We have had a constructive week, yes, but we are not yet there,’’ he said, later adding: ‘‘It will take weeks, maybe even months before we are able to say there has been sufficient progress.’’

Both sides said they had made progress on citizens’ rights and the Northern Irish border, but Barnier said the EU still wanted the European Court of Justice to play ‘‘an indispensable role’’ in ensuring that the EU citizens’ rights guaranteed in the agreement were observed. ‘‘This is a stumbling block for the EU.’’

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, claimed that a majority of people in the UK no longer wanted to leave the EU. He joked that British Prime Minister Theresa May chose to make her keynote speech in Florence, a city renowned for ‘‘backstabbing and betrayal’’, because it felt familiar for her. –