European Union Governments agreed a common Brexit negotiating plan today and renewed their insistence that they would not open talks on a post-Brexit trade deal until London agrees to settle what it owes the Union.
Ministers from the 27 other EU states met in Brussels to sign off on a common strategy and mandate the EU executive, in the form of chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, to launch talks on their behalf after Britain’s June 8 election.
Officials said, the strategy and mandate were adopted unanimously.
Several ministers stressed their priorities are to provide legal clarity for EU citizens in Britain before they find themselves living outside the EU in March 2019 and to agree how to calculate what London owes Brussels before departure.