United Kingdom will have only 18 months to get a deal — European Union negotiator

“All in all there will be less than 18 months to negotiate – once again that is short”, added Barnier, once dubbed the most unsafe man in Europe by a British newspaper when he was the EU’s financial services commissioner.

Mr Barnier, speaking at a press conference in Brussels, said today that “time will be short”.

A spokesman for the government said: “We’ve been clear on our timetable, we will trigger A50 and then there is a two-year period for negotiations”.

Ditto a suggestion from some diplomats that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had suggested he did not have a problem with immigration.

Mr Johnson made the remark to journalists at a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers today, after Mr Barnier set out the short period in his first major statement on Brexit.

If negotiations begin in the Spring of 2016, as Theresa May hopes, an official triggering of Article 50 should take place by October of 2018. The government is now contesting the ruling in the Supreme Court. Should Britain’s highest court confirm Parliament’s involvement, May’s plans could be delayed. However she has suggested she doesn’t want Britain bound by the European Union obligation allowing people to live and work anywhere in the bloc even it means restricted access to the EU’s tariff-free single market.

“We invite the court to proceed in this case on the basis that a notification under Article 50 (2) is irrevocable”, he said.

“Cherry picking is not an option”, he said.

Carney allegedly had dinners last week with business and finance leaders where he explained plans to maintain the UK’s single market status for two years after the Brexit, according to the Sunday Times.

But he suggested there may not be time to finalise all details of Britain’s future relationship with the European Union – potentially including the vital issue of trade – telling a Brussels press conference: “You can’t do everything in 15 to 18 months of negotiations”.

Asked whether Britain was seeking to “have its cake and eat it”, Dijsselbloem responded: “I was going to stay away from that cliché, but you are absolutely right”.

While bankers and corporate executives would welcome clarity about the UK’s long-term plan and a transition to it, May is reluctant to give too many details about her ambitions early on for fear she would hand a negotiating advantage to her interlocutors.

More translation difficulties arise from a British habit of not taking such pronouncements at face value and assuming they must be starting points for some elaborate verbal dance to come.

He said the European Union won’t partake in any negotiations until Article 50 is triggered; that Britain can not have the same rights and benefits once it leaves the European Union; and that the bloc’s so-called fundamental freedoms, including the right of people to work anywhere in the European Union, must be respected.

The point of a transitional deal would likely be to keep some single market access while the United Kingdom strikes up new trade deals on the continent and other parts of the world.

Since being appointed lead negotiator by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in July, he said he had set up a taskforce of 30 experts who were scouring the EU’s rules and regulations to identify what issues must be dealt with during the Article 50 talks. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works. Please see our terms of service for more information.