"The necessary progress has not yet been made" to expand the Brexit negotiations to other matters. With these words the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, closed the possibility of opening new negotiating chapters with London, those relating to new post-divorce relations.
The obstacles are always the same: the rights of EU citizens living in the United Kingdom, the financial obligations of the British towards the EU and the border that separates Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
"The negotiators have made good progress on citizens' rights but there is still no agreement on the indispensable role of the European Court of Justice in guaranteeing their rights - Juncker said in a hearing before the European Parliament - We cannot yet talk about the relations future".
To the heads of government and state who will meet on 19 and 20 October for the next meeting of the European Council "we will report that as of today we cannot say that we are ready to enter the second phase", explained the number one of the Commission.
Michel Barnier, EU chief negotiator in the Brexit negotiations, follows the same line: “There is still no agreement on the key points. We do not have enough progress to start a new negotiation phase". In particular, Barnier underlined, "serious differences remain" on London's financial obligations with the EU.
At the European Council, EU leaders should have decided what to do on the basis of the results of the negotiations, but unless the British delegation decisively changes course in next week's round, the leaders will only have to take note of the situation and postpone the decision .
