The European Commission will recommend to EU leaders to move Brexit talks into the next phase, Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday (8 December) morning at a joint press conference with British prime minister Theresa May.
Juncker said “sufficient progress” has been made in divorce issues to move to talks on the future relations. “We have now made the breakthrough we needed,” Juncker added.
That breakthrough came early in the morning, when British prime minister Theresa May traveled to Brussels to meet with Juncker and EU Council president Donald Tusk.
“Today’s result of course is a result of a compromise,” Juncker said.
May added the deal required “give and take” on both sides, but said the deal is “fair” to the British taxpayer.
May had also travelled to Brussels on Monday, but negotiations dramatically broke down, when it emerged May’s allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had refused to sign up to the agreement fearing it could tear Northern Ireland apart from the rest of the UK.
May said Friday the government will preserve the economic and constitutional integrity of the UK, while there would be no hard border on the island of Ireland.
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