EU: Brexit deal needs to be reached before October 2018

(Baonghean.vn)- On December 6, the head of the Brexit negotiation delegation with the UK, Mr. Michel Barnier, said an agreement on London's exit from the EU must be reached before October 2018.

“The time will be shortened,” Barnier told reporters for the first time since taking over as chief negotiator in Brussels. “It is clear that the actual negotiations will last only five and a half years, not the two years that were initially estimated.”

EU chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier. Photo: AP

Mr Barnier said that if Britain triggers the divorce process in March next year as planned, a deal would need to be reached by October 2018, so that it could be approved by the European Parliament in time for the March 2019 deadline.

Mr Barnier, who has visited 18 EU member states and is due to hold talks with the 27 EU member states before the end of January, said the EU was ready to receive an announcement from British Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Britain has decided to leave the EU since the referendum last June, but so far Prime Minister Theresa May's government has not outlined the necessary plan to realize this decision.

Lan Ha

(According to AFP)