#Brexit: ‘We have the divorce papers on the table, 45 years of a difficult marriage are coming to an end' Blümel #eu2018at

The General Affairs Council (Article 50) is meeting today (19 November) in EU-27 format, to prepare the special meeting of the European Council to endorse the Brexit withdrawal agreement and reach agreement on the political declaration on the future relationship of the UK with the EU. If "nothing extraordinary happens before then", to use the words of Donald Tusk, then heads of government will adopt the documents on Sunday 25 November at a special European Council, writes Catherine Feore.  

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok said on his way into the meeting that ministers will be concentrating their efforts on the political declaration on the future relationship. He said that this document should be ambitious, he said this is also very important for the Netherlands in terms of trade and because there are many Dutch citizens living in the UK. Asked what he thought of the political situation, he described it as "quite interesting".

In preparation for the summit, ministers will exchange views on the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement as presented and published by the negotiators on 14 November 2018. This text has been agreed by both sides, the EU and the UK, at the level of the negotiators. 

Austrian Federal Minister for the EU Gernot Blümel said that the week ahead would be interesting. Blümel will chair the meeting as it is currently the Austrian Presidency of the European Council. He said: "We have the divorce papers on the table, 45 years of a difficult marriage are coming to an end." 

Ministers will also discuss the outline for a political declaration on future EU-UK relations. This outline should serve as a basis for the final text of the political declaration that will accompany and be referred to in the withdrawal agreement. The declaration, which is not legally binding, is estimated to be significantly more detailed than the one presented last week, which was just seven pages, with EU officials saying that it is now approximately 20 pages. The Commission intends to agree on a final draft of the declaration with the UK by Tuesday 20 November 2018. The EU-27 member states will then have time to analyze the text ahead of the summit, where the leaders are expected to approve it. 

Czech Secretary of State for European Affairs Aleš Chmelař said that the Czech priority would be an ambitious trade deal in future, but mentioned that some states might have concerns about fisheries or other sensitive territorial issues that they would like to have  reflected in the political declaration.

Share this article: