The UK might not be deemed ready by EU leaders to complete the divorce from the EU.
Despite EU leaders saying they were happy to move Brexit talks on to future arrangements, growing frustration suggests that the UK is “not ready”.
Although six weeks ago sufficient progress was made regarding divorce issues of the Irish border, money and protecting citizens’ rights, there has been little progress since.
“The feeling here in Brussels is that the UK is pushing these on to the back burner and is now focusing more attention on the transition and the future,” said a senior official. “The message is don’t lose this out of sight, because we want to have it settled as well. And if we don’t have it settled this thing could go to the wire.”
Once divorce talks have been settled, the UK will receive a divorce bill that will be an estimated €60-65 billion.
The divorce bill includes various costs including the British contributions to the EU budget for 2019 and 2020, which is worth an estimated €22 billion.
Pensions for EU officials must be paid, as well many other items such as loan guarantees to Greece and Ukraine, money promised to Syrian refugees in Turkey and programs aimed at stopping migration from Africa.
Before the bill is paid, a number of issues are still yet to be settled.
One example is police cooperation. Both sides hope to complete procedures ongoing during Brexit, but the UK has not signed up to EU procedural rules underpinned by the European court of justice.
A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: “We continue to engage in constructive technical discussions with the commission and look forward to moving on to the second phase of negotiations,”
The most complicated issue still remains the Ireland border, which is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. The EU will insist that the UK must avoid a hard border, while at the same time ensuring European customs union and the single market.