SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy will meet with British prime minister Theresa May in London on Tuesday, December 5, national government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo has just confirmed.
As well as discussing bilateral relations between the UK and Spain, they will also review the progress made in Brexit talks with the EU.
The day before, however – on Monday, December 4 – Spain's deputy president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría will meet with the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to discuss the same.
Sra Sáenz de Santamaría heads up the inter-ministerial commission for monitoring Brexit.
In 10 days' time, Mrs May's ultimatum given by the EU to clarify her proposals for Brexit will be up, and so far, M. Barnier and the president of the Union, Donald Tusk, have said progress made is 'insufficient'.
Today (Friday), after Tusk's and May's second face-to-face meeting in less than a week – firstly in Göteburg, Sweden and today in Brussels – sources from within the EU say there is nothing new to report, except that Tusk 'has not closed the door' on a deal, creating a ray of optimism on both sides.
Tusk says he believes 'making sufficient progress' by the Council of Europe Summit in December is 'still possible', but remains 'an enormous challenge'.
“December 4 is the absolute deadline for London to make some extra effort,” EU sources say.
The Summit will be over December 14 and 15, and the remaining EU-27 will be expected to confirm whether they consider enough progress in negotiations has been made on the three most crucial points – the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the sum the UK has to pay to meet its contractual liabilities with Europe, and the fate of the four million or so EU and British citizens living in the UK and Europe respectively.
Tusk says unless firm decisions have been made on these points by December 4, he will not present his planned draft agreement about trade relations and any possible transition period.
Already this week, the UK has lost the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Banking Authority (EBA) to Amsterdam and Paris respectively – the former being the subject of a bid by Barcelona.
As well as Donald Tusk, Theresa May has held one-to-one meetings with Belgian prime minister Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Danish premier Lars Lokke, which she says were 'very positive'.
According to British media sources, the UK government has backed an increase in the payment due to Europe from €20 billion to €40bn, although the EU calculates it at nearer €60bn.
The sum, often erroneously called 'the divorce bill', covers long-term agreements the UK entered into with the EU such as funding infrastructure, including in Britain, which is not yet finished, as well pensions payable to UK nationals working for the EU, and may also relate to the actual cost of Brexit transactions to Europe, such as the relocation of staff and their families from the EMA and EBA and the penalty for breaking the lease on the buildings.
