Brexit: May return to Brussels for negotiations ahead of crucial summit

Theresa May will return to Brussels for the Brexit negotiations this weekend, as the UK and the EU strive to reach an agreement in time for Sunday's EU leaders summit .

After a two-hour meeting with EU officials, the prime minister said progress was being made on the future shape of EU-UK relations.

Spain stated that it would not agree to the Brexit Agreement unless changes were made to the wording concerning Gibraltar.

But sources # 10 said they expect a solution before Sunday's meeting.

Sources said that the Prime Minister's announcement of an unplanned trip to Brussels on Saturday did not signal any "major problems" regarding a document exposing future relations of the UK with the EU.

May spoke to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday night and said discussions would continue after "a good dialogue" between the country and the Gibraltar government, according to a spokeswoman for Downing Street.

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London and Brussels have already approved the UK's exit plan of 29 March 2019 – a 585-page document covering citizens' rights, financial issues and the Irish border.

While some conservative MPs want what BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg has described as a "pinch" of this legally binding agreement, the UK and EU have said that it is unlikely would have no major changes.

The EU is now in a race against the clock to complete the text of an accompanying statement on its future relations with the UK amidst the concerns of several Member States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would not attend Sunday's meeting of European leaders – who was asked to approve both the declaration and the withdrawal agreement – unless the text on future cooperation is agreed in advance.

The EU had hoped to accept the document, which is not legally binding but will be the starting point for future negotiations, first on Tuesday then again on Wednesday.

The BBC understands the "real deadline" set in Brussels to settle it. Thus, Sunday's summit is now considered Friday morning, day of the meeting of the ministerial negotiators.

After an hour of talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, May tried to get an optimistic note, but said the talks should continue until the day before the summit. Sunday.

"We have made further progress and, as a result, we have given enough guidance to our negotiators to resolve the outstanding issues and this work will begin immediately," she said.

"I now plan to come back for other meetings on Saturday to discuss how we can carry out this process and carry it out in the best interests of all of us."

What is the political declaration?

Under the terms of the draft withdrawal agreement, there will be a transition period of 21 months after the departure of the UK until the end of 2020.

The future paper on relations lays the foundation for economic, security and defense cooperation from the beginning of 2021.

The UK said it hoped to agree to a trade agreement by then although most observers believe it will take much longer, based on other trade agreements. .

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When it was first published last Wednesday, the document was only seven pages long and has since been expanded to 20 pages.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the UK said its goal was notably to create a free trade zone for duty-free goods on British products, to end membership in agricultural policy common fisheries policy and to "put in place ambitious arrangements for trade in services".

What is delaying the agreement?

The French, Dutch and Danish governments are worried about the extent to which their fishing fleets are accessing British waters.

The future of the single market raises growing concerns about the scope of the Brexit deal, if the UK ends up benefiting from preferential access to EU markets but does not to comply with the rules of free movement.

The other big problem is the future of Gibraltar, the British overseas territory to which Spain has long claimed.

Spain insists that the texts clearly indicate that any future trade agreement between the EU and the UK will not cover the disputed peninsula and that the UK should enter into direct negotiations with Madrid on how they apply to Gibraltar.

While Spain can not veto the agreement on Sunday, the EU hopes to proceed by consensus and the BBC correspondent for Europe, Damian Grammaticas, said that 39 It would be politically problematic for other EU countries to go ahead without the support of Spain.