Downing Street insist Brexit talks on track as Slovenian PM warns of delay
2 min read
Downing Street has insisted that Brexit trade negotiations can begin in October - despite the Prime Minister of Slovenia warning that they could be delayed until next year.
Miro Cerar said "the process will definitely take more time than we expected" because so little progress had been made on Britain's EU divorce bill, citizens' rights post-Brexit and the Irish border.
His comments are a major blow for Theresa May as the clock continues to tick down to the UK's departure on 31 March, 2019.
Brussels has insisted that negotiations on Britain's future trading relationship with the EU cannot take place until the divorce bill, citizens' rights and Irish issues are settled.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said at the weekend that the EU must water down its demands.
"I firmly believe the early rounds of the negotiations have already demonstrated that many questions around our withdrawal are inextricably linked to our future relationship," he said in an article for the Sunday Times. "Both sides need to move swiftly on to discussing our future partnership, and we want that to happen after the European Council in October."
But Mr Cerar told The Guardian: "I think that the process will definitely take more time than we expected at the start of the negotiations. There are so many difficult topics on the table, difficult issues there, that one cannot expect all those issues will be solved according to the schedule made in the first place."
He added: "It was good we made a schedule but, of course, if you are realistic you cannot expect such fundamental issues to be solved in a few months."
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said: "We're confident that we'll have made sufficient progress by October to be able to advance talks to the next phase. That's what David Davis said at the weekend and that's our aim and we're confident that we're working at pace and will be able to get to that point.
"The Prime Minister's view is that both sides need to demonstrate a dynamic and flexible approach to each round of the negotiations. We want to be able to move on to the next stage by European Council in October and that's our aim."
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