EU leaders adopt guidelines on Brexit talks

The 27 European Union (EU) countries' leaders during their first official meeting since last month's British triggering of the Article 50 adopted unanimously the guidelines on Brexit negotiations with Britain, European Council President Donald Tusk said Saturday.

"I want to underline the outstanding unity of all the 27 leaders on the guidelines for our negotiations with the UK. They were adopted immediately after we started the summit," Tusk said at the press conference after the meeting.

Tusk said the 27 EU countries' leaders had accepted "phased approach" as the method of conducting the Brexit talks. "Before negotiating future relations with UK, we must achieve sufficient progress on citizens' rights, finances, and border issue in Ireland," he elaborated.

"In order to achieve sufficient progress, we need a serious British response," Tusk said.

It is too early to speculate on when this might happen, he said, adding, "It'll be for the EU leaders to assess and decide if sufficient progress has been made."

Tusk underlined that citizens rights is the "priority number one" the EU leaders will focus on.

"We are talking about four and a half million people: Europeans residing in the UK, and Britons living on the continent," he said. "We need real guarantees for our people to live, work and study in the UK, and the same goes for the British."

He noted a full list of rights and benefits that the EU aims to guarantee for those affected by Brexit has been prepared by the European Commission, the executive body of the EU.

"I want to assure you that as soon as the UK offers real guarantees for our citizens, we will find a solution rapidly," Tusk said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker cautioned at the same conference that some politicians in Britain underestimated the difficulties of the Brexit talks ahead.

According to the European Council guidelines for Brexit negotiations adopted Saturday, throughout the negotiations the EU will maintain unity and act as one with the aim of reaching a result that is "fair and equitable for all member states and in the interest of its citizens."

"The Union's overall objective in these negotiations will be to preserve its interests, those of its citizens, its businesses and its member states," the adopted document says.

While working hard to achieve that outcome, the EU "will prepare itself to be able to handle the situation also if the negotiations were to fail," it says.

Though the EU leaders reiterated its wish to have Britain as a "close partner" in the future, they underlined that "a non-member of the EU, that does not live up to the same obligations as a member, cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member".

The two year timeframe of Brexit negotiations set out in Article 50 ends on March 29 of 2019, according to the document. The EU says it will update the guidelines on Brexit in course of negotiations as necessary.

Saturday's summit is the first official gathering of the 27 EU leaders since the formal triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by British Prime Minister Theresa May on March 29, 2017.