BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on the Brexit negotiations between the European Union and United Kingdom (all times local):
5:50 p.m.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the country wants to see “urgency” from the European Union on Brexit talks.
Johnson spoke after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said a round of talks this week had not made “great steps forward” and cannot yet be broadened beyond the terms of Britain’s exit to include key issues like future trade relations.
EU officials accuse Britain of dragging its heels. But Johnson said Britain had “set out what we think are some pretty convincing ideas” on issues including the rights of citizens affected by Brexit and the financial settlement the U.K. must make in order to leave.
Johnson said it’s time to “get on with it to the next phase.”
He said “we’re looking for some urgency from our friends and partners. Time to put a tiger in the tank and get this thing done.”
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1:35 p.m.
The pound is dropping after the European Union’s Brexit negotiator said that no significant progress has been made in talks with Britain.
Michel Barnier said Thursday after the fifth round of talks in Brussels that despite the “constructive spirit” shown, “we haven’t made any great steps forward.”
The British currency dropped almost a cent against the dollar, or 0.6 percent, to $1.3145.
The slow pace of the talks increases the likelihood of Britain leaving the EU without a new deal on future relations like trade. That could see tariffs imposed on imports and exports between the two sides as well as regulatory complications for doing business. Companies widely see this as a worst-case scenario.
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12:55 p.m.
British Brexit negotiator David Davis is urging leaders of the European Union to “take a step forward” and move talks on to future relations between the U.K. and the bloc.
Davis says settling terms of the U.K.-EU divorce is “dependent on discussions of our future relationship.”
The EU insists that there can be no talk about trade and other issues until the divorce terms are agreed — including the amount Britain must pay to settle its financial commitments.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Thursday that talks on the Brexit bill are deadlocked, and that he will advise the EU that there has not been sufficient progress to move talks on to the next phase.
But Davis said “I hope the member states will see the prorgress we have made and take a step forward.”
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12:45 p.m.
The European Union’s Brexit negotiator says that little progress was made with the U.K. in a fifth round of talks on the country’s departure from the EU in March 2019.
Michel Barnier said Thursday that despite the “constructive spirit” shown in this week’s negotiations in Brussels, “we haven’t made any great steps forward.”
Barnier said he would not be able to recommend to EU leaders meeting next week that “sufficient progress” has been made to broaden the talks to future EU-British relations like trade.
The leaders meet in Brussels on Oct. 19-20, and it had been hoped they would widen the talks.
The EU says this can only happen when the financial settlement, the rights of citizens affected by Brexit and the status of the Northern Ireland-Ireland border have advanced.
