Brexit talks 'will not consume EU', Angela Merkel warns Britain

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has warned Theresa May that the EU will not allow itself to be consumed by the Brexit negotiations, as the British prime minister’s offer on citizens’ rights was dismissed by Europe’s leaders as vague and inadequate.

Emerging from a two-day summit in Brussels, where the issues discussed ranged from tackling the spread of terrorist propaganda on the internet to plans for cooperation on defence, Merkel insisted her priority was not the Brexit talks but steering the EU to a better future.

In response to May’s offer on citizens’ rights after Brexit, she also warned that the UK and the EU had a “long way to go” if they were going to reach agreement on the issue.

In a symbolic joint press conference with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Merkel said: “That was a good beginning but – and I’m trying to word this very carefully – it was not a breakthrough.

“We have said we want to pursue this matter in good cooperation, but what has come out yesterday was also that we still have a long way to go yet. And the 27 [other EU countries], especially Germany and France, will be well prepared, we will not allow ourselves to be divided.”

Merkel said Brexit had not been the main point of the summit, and that she would not allow the issue to derail progress in other vital areas. “We need to take care of our own future as an EU27,” Merkel said. “This work should take precedence over Brexit negotiations.”

May made her opening offer to the EU’s leaders on citizens’ rights during dinner on Thursday night, describing it as a “fair and serious” attempt to protect the rights of 3.5 million EU citizens in the UK and 1.2 million Britons in the EU.

Under the terms of the offer, people who arrive lawfully before Brexit will have the chance to build up the same rights to work, healthcare and benefits as UK citizens.

On Friday she made clear that the offer was conditional on striking an agreement over the future of British citizens living in other EU countries, something she said she hoped to conclude “at the earliest possible date”.

May also hinted there could be a compromise over the EU’s demand in its own offer that future rights of EU citizens be underpinned by the European court of justice – anathema to some Conservative MPs. “If this is an aspect of the withdrawal treaty then it will be enshrined in international law,” May said on Friday, suggesting international courts could oversee the promise.

Both sides have said they would like the issue to be resolved early in the Brexit talks, but it appears there remains a significant gap to bridge.

The offer fell well short of the EU’s demand for its citizens living in the UK to maintain all EU rights in perpetuity, and was attacked at home and abroad on Friday.

The mayor of London described the proposals as unacceptable, while many of the leaders meeting in Brussels said they had been left underwhelmed.

The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, said May’s suggestion as to a way forward on the rights of the citizens most directly affected by Brexit would worsen the situation for people.

“My first impression is that the UK’s offer is below our expectations, and that it risks worsening the situation of citizens,” Tusk said. “But it will be for our negotiating team to analyse the offer line by line, once we receive it on paper.

“If we compare, it is just the first impression, but if we compare the current level of citizens’ rights to what we have heard from the British prime minister, it is obvious this is about reducing the citizens’ rights of the EU nationals in the UK. And our role in these negotiations is to reduce this risk.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, had also struck a dismissive note as he arrived at the meeting on Friday. “That is a first step but this step is not sufficient,” he said.

Juncker later added that he could not see how the European court of justice could be excluded from being involved in the protection of the rights of EU nationals after the UK leaves the bloc in 2019. The UK wants the supreme court to be the arbiter of any disputes rather than the court in Luxembourg.

Juncker also offered a thinly veiled warning to the British prime minister not to again seek to discuss issues belonging to the Brexit negotiations at the regular meetings of the EU leaders.

He said: “We cannot go through all the pieces of negotiations during the next European council. That’s not the road we have agreed upon.”

The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, also added his voice to the criticism of the prime minister, calling May’s proposals “particularly vague”, using a Flemish expression for a dubious gift. “We don’t want a cat in the bag,” he said. “We want the rights of EU citizens to be permanently guaranteed.”

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said there were “thousands of questions to ask”, while the Austrian chancellor, Christian Kern, described the offer as “a first step” that did not cover the position of many EU citizens in the UK.

May acknowledged that elements of her plans would be challenged by the EU. “Of course, there will be details of this arrangement which will be part of the negotiation process,” she said as she arrived for a second day of talks.

“This is a fair and serious offer. I want to give those EU citizens in the UK certainty about the future of their lives, but I also want to see that certainty given to UK citizens who are living in the EU.”

The British government will publish a full proposal on Monday, but May gave leaders a short overview during a dinner dedicated to non-Brexit issues. She said the UK was willing to agree to a “cut-off point” between 29 March this year, when May formally triggered article 50, and the later date of March 2019 as preferred by the European commission.

EU citizens already in the UK – and those who arrive lawfully during a subsequent “grace period”, expected to be up to two years – will be given the opportunity to build up five years’ worth of residence. The grace period could start at any point up to the date of Brexit and would allow EU citizens time to regularise their status.

That would entitle them to a special category of “settled status”, conferring the same rights to work, pensions, NHS care and other public services as British citizens, which they will maintain for life.