"Real Progress." Great Britain and the EU completed the first stage of negotiations on Brexit

Great Britain and the EU completed the first phase of negotiations on the exit of London from the Union for seven months. During the meetings, the parties managed to agree on three key issues: the financial obligations of Great Britain, the Irish border and citizens' rights. In the EU, the achieved agreements were called "real progress, which was considered incredible a few months ago."

Finance. The parties came to the agreement that until the end of 2020, the UK will continue to make payments to the EU budget and participate in the execution of the long -term financial development program of the EU (promising budget for 2014–2020), as if Brexit did not occur. The parties reported that they agreed on the methodology of calculations of the financial obligations of London, however, specific amounts of payments are not called. Earlier, the media cited estimates from € 45 billion to € 55 billion, but not one of them was officially confirmed. Calculations will be made in the euro.

Border. The question of the border between the UK Northern Ireland and the EU Ireland, until recently, remained the main obstacle to the end of the first stage of negotiations: the economy of Ireland is very much tied to the UK, and the closure of the border could extremely negatively affect it. As a result, the parties agreed to make the Irish border as free as possible: the UK will observe and support the economic cooperation that currently existed, between the north of the island and the rest of it. Specific mechanisms for the action of a lightweight border regime will be determined later.

Citizens' rights. In accordance with the agreements, the UK Citizens living in the UK, over the next eight years, the jurisdiction of the European Court will be extended - it will be considered a higher instance than the Supreme Court of Great Britain. Earlier, London insisted on a shorter period of this transition period.

The second stage of negotiations will begin in January 2018. As expected, the formal approval of the second phase will be made at the EU summit in Brussels, which will be held on December 14 and 15. During the second stage, security and trade issues will be discussed.