European Council President Donald Tusk announced at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday 21 March that the special European summit to prepare for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU will take place on Saturday 29 April, one month after the triggering of Article 50, announced for 29 March (see EUROPE 11749).
The purpose of this special European summit, which will not be attended by Theresa May, will be to adopt guidelines for the Brexit talks. The main priority of these negotiations, Tusk stated, must be “to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states”.
The guidelines will thereafter be fleshed out into more detailed guidance to be adopted at a General Affairs Council meeting. The first issues to be dealt with in the talks are likely to relate to the bill that the UK will have to continue to pay and the rights of UK citizens in the EU and of EU citizens in the UK. At the start of December, Commission negotiator Michel Barnier said that the negotiations would have to be completed before October 2018 so that the UK can depart before the European elections. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)