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EU heads of state and government are due to decide at a European Council meeting that month whether the talks have made “sufficient progress” on separation issues and can move on to the U.K.’s future trade relationship with the bloc. But the Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator Guy Verhofstadt and Parliament President Antonio Tajani are skeptical that the talks are moving fast enough.
“[The] continued lack of clarity or absence of U.K. proposals on separation issues as well as the latest developments in Brexit negotiations meant that … sufficient progress on the first phase of Brexit negotiations is unlikely to have been met by the October European Council,” said the statement.
Tajani added: “I would think it wise for the European Council to postpone this point [the ‘sufficient progress’ decision] to its December meeting.”
In an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday, the Parliament president had said that he would push for the Council’s decision to be pushed back until its December summit — a move that would increase pressure on negotiators given the March 2019 deadline for reaching a withdrawal agreement.