The sherpas of the Twenty-Seven met during the morning of Tuesday 11 April, along with figures including Michel Barnier, the Commission's Brexit negotiator, to discuss the draft guidelines to be adopted by the European leaders on 29 April.
A meeting to prepare these guidelines will be held on 24 April and changes will be made to the guidelines before then to take account of the comments made on 11 April. According to a European source, the meeting led to a solid consensus and unity as to the main elements of the guidelines presented on 31 March by Donald Tusk (see EUROPE 11759), including the two-stage approach (divorce terms first, then discussions on the future relationship).
The discussion gave rise to a widely-shared intention of prioritising the citizens affected by Brexit. The sherpas pledged rapidly and substantially to smooth out the consequences for citizens in the UK. According to the same source, Gibraltar was not discussed at the meeting. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)