May has, however, committed to including a version of that default model in any future withdrawal agreement as a price for moving the Brexit talks on. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the EU had to stay together as the talks entered a more difficult phase. “We have to show unity and cohesion in these negotiations.”Progress on a draft withdrawal agreement unveiled earlier in the week was also welcomed by the 27. The 129-page document contains both the terms of the transition period and Brussels’ proposed solution to the issue of the Irish border. “That is impossible.”Lamberts said he expected the EU to make provision in the withdrawal agreement to extend the transition, but “they want to extract a price for that concession”.

Source: The Guardian March 23, 2018 11:05 UTC