The EU has agreed to move to the final phase of Brexit talks

Thomson Reuters

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May meets with European Union Council President Donald Tusk at 10 Downing Street in London

• The EU agrees its negotiating guidelines for the final phase of Brexit talks.
• Britain is due to leave the EU in just over one years's time.
• EU leaders are set to rubber stamp the terms of the Brexit transition.
• May celebrates clear "progess" on a Brexit deal.

LONDON - EU leaders in Brussels have laid the ground for the next round of Brexit talks after agreeing on negotiating guidelines, according to European Council president Donald Tusk.

The 27 leaders met in Brussels today to adopt negotiating guidelines for talks on the future UK-EU relationship, and agree to a 21-month transition period when Britain leaves the bloc in March.

The leaders are expected to discuss how prescriptive the political terms of the withdrawal agreement will be.

The meeting follows the informal agreement of Britain's Brexit transition deal earlier this week.

Ahead of the meeting, Theresa May told reporters: "We've made good progress on the withdrawal agreement.

She added: "But also I'm looking for a new dynamic in the next stage of the negotiations so that we can ensure that we do develop, that we work together to develop, a strong future economic and security partnership which I believe is in the interest of the UK and the European Union."

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