Britain is set to leave the EU in March 2019 and the remaining 27 member states have now prepared their joint stance on what they expect of London during a transition period until the end of 2020.
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told reporters after the meeting that EU laws would continue to apply to Britain during the transition, while the country would remain under the European Court of Justice's jurisdiction. Barnier also warned that it might not be able to benefit from trade deals the EU has with other countries during the transition. While the bloc is open in principle to extending Britain's transition period, Swedish EU affairs minister Ann Linde made clear she did not want to get stuck in protracted trade negotiations to fix London's future relationship with the bloc.
