European Union (EU) leaders endorsed a stiff set of divorce terms for Britain at a summit on Saturday.
Meeting for the first time since British Prime Minister Theresa May formally triggered a two-year countdown to Brexit in late March, the 27 other EU leaders took just a minute as they sat down to lunch in Brussels to approve eight pages of negotiating guidelines hammered out by their diplomats over the past month.
Those will bind Michel Barnier, their chief negotiator, to seek a deal that secures the rights of three million EU expats living in Britain, ensure London pays tens of billions of euros Brussels thinks it will be owed and avoids destabilising peace by creating a hard EU-U.K. border across the island of Ireland.
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They also rule out discussing the free trade deal Ms. May wants until they see progress on agreeing those key withdrawal terms.