(Bloomberg) -- EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier said it will take “weeks or months” before Brexit talks can move on to trade, even as he welcomed a new “dynamic” in negotiations this week.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's speech in Florence last week, where she pledged to honor the U.K.'s financial commitments, “made it possible to unblock the situation,” Barnier told a news conference in Brussels after the latest round of talks. But the two sides remain divided on the bill and on the role the European Court of Justice should have after Britain leaves, Barnier said.
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Barnier said “useful” talks had been held over the financial settlement, but clarity was still lacking.
"The U.K. explained also that it is not in a position yet to identify its commitments,” he said. “For the EU, the only way to reach sufficient progress is that all commitments undertaken at 28 are honored at 28," he said, in a reference to the number of EU members.
One more round of negotiations is due in early October, before leaders meet in the middle of next month. At that summit they will decide whether talks can move on to trade, and may discuss whether talks on the transition deal can be moved forward. The European Parliament will also call next week for leaders not to move talks on to trade at that summit, unless a major breakthrough is made next month, according to a draft resolution.
--With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou and Marine Strauss
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden
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