German chancellor upbeat on progress of divorce talks but cautions that next stage of negotiations will be ‘a bit more difficult’The next phase of Brexit negotiations on trade will “undeniably” be more complicated than the divorce talks, Angela Merkel has said as the European Union prepares to discuss its future with the UK. The EU would find it a bit more difficult to formulate a mandate to guide those talks, she said. The difficulty for the bloc is how to protect the integrity of its single market, while avoiding damage to its economic interests. Senior officials say the British government has not recognised that leaving the web of EU rules and courts to “take back control”, will mean British firms have less access to the EU single market. On Thursday night, the prime minister made her five-minute Brexit pitch to EU leaders over coffee, after a dinner dedicated to foreign policy issues, including Iran, North Korea and Turkey.

Source: The Guardian October 20, 2017 08:16 UTC