German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Theresa May the political cover she’s been asking for to take further steps in Brexit talks, calling on both sides to move so that a deal can be reached by year-end.
The UK prime minister signalled she’s willing to offer more on the divorce bill, according to a UK official. May urged leaders at a European summit to help her find a deal she could sell to sceptics at home and her counterparts responded with words of encouragement — though no concrete concessions.
Merkel said there’s “zero indication” that Brexit talks won’t succeed and she “truly” wants an agreement rather than an “unpredictable resolution.” She welcomed the concessions May made in a speech in Florence last month and said she’s “very motivated” to get talks moved on from the divorce settlement to trade by December.
“Now both sides need to move,” she told reporters after hearing May speak at dinner, in a shift of rhetoric for the EU side, which has previously insisted that it’s up to the UK alone to make the next move.
Talks are deadlocked over the issue of the financial obligations, eating into the limited time available to forge a trade deal before Britain leaves the bloc. The initial offer on money that May made in Florence — about €20 billion and some unspecified additional commitments — hasn’t been converted into detailed negotiating positions.