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A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 26 OcTOber 2017

UK Brexit chief says he expects talks to go down to the wire

By JILL LAWLESS to a vote in both Houses (of
Associated Press Parliament) and we expect
LONDON (AP) — Brexit ne- and intend this to be be-
gotiations between Britain fore the vote in the Europe-
and the European Union an Parliament and there-
may not end until the last fore before we leave,” the
moment before the U.K. department said in a state-
officially leaves the bloc in ment.Conservative Prime
March 2019, Britain’s minis- Minister Theresa May also
ter for leaving the EU said reassured lawmakers, say-
Wednesday. The com- ing she was confident “that
ments by Brexit Secretary we will be able to achieve
David Davis drew an angry that agreement and that
reaction from British law- negotiation in time for this
makers, who have been Parliament to have the
promised a vote on any vote that we committed
deal struck between Brit- to.” Negotiations between
ain and the bloc on their Britain and the EU have
divorce. Davis suggested stalled over divorce terms,
that if a deal is made at including the size of the bill
the last minute, such a vote Britain must pay to settle its
might come after Britain commitments to the bloc.
has already left the EU. British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, addresses a media conference The U.K. is keen to start talk-
“Well, it can’t come before at EU headquarters in Brussels in this Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 photo. Britain’s Brexit minister says ing about future relations, a
we have the deal,” he told he expects negotiations with the European Union won’t end until the last moment before the U.K. step the EU may agree to
a Parliament’s Exiting the officially leaves the bloc in March 2019. take in December.
EU Committee. He said the (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) Many U.K. businesses fear
EU tends to make decisions said in practice the nego- liaments enough time to hoped to reach agreement the consequences if Brit-
“at the 59th minute of the tiations will have to be fin- approve it by March 2019. on a deal “in good time” ain doesn’t strike a deal by
11th hour of the 11th day ished months sooner, by Britain’s Department for Ex- and was aiming for Octo- the March 2019 deadline
and so on, and that is pre- the fall of 2018, to give the iting the European Union ber 2018. “Once the deal and crashes out of the EU
cisely what I would expect European Parliament and later appeared to contra- is agreed, we will meet our single market and customs
to happen.” The EU has the bloc’s 27 national par- dict Davis, saying Britain long-standing commitment union.q

German president in Russia talks about Ukraine, other crises

MOSCOW (AP) — Germany Russia-West ties have been have conflicting visions of
and Russia need to over- strained over Moscow’s the mandate for such a
come their mutual distrust, annexation of Ukraine’s mission.
the German president said Crimean Peninsula in 2014 The Russian leader said the
Wednesday on a visit to and its support for separat- Kremlin talks also focused
Russia. ists in eastern Ukraine. on getting a peace settle-
Frank-Walter Steinmeier “I think we agree that we ment in Syria, the Iranian
said after talks with Russian can’t and mustn’t be satis- nuclear deal and the situa-
President Vladimir Putin that fied with the current state tion around North Korea.
the two countries need to (of relations),” Steinmeier Steinmeier is the first Ger-
take a “common effort to said. “We are some way man president to visit Russia
be more predictable and from normal relations.” in seven years.
rebuild a minimum of trust.” Putin said they agreed on Steinmeier served as Ger-
The talks ranged from eco- the need to implement a many’s foreign minister until
nomic ties to the conflicts in 2015 peace deal for east- becoming president earlier
Ukraine and Syria as well as ern Ukraine, which was this year, but in his new role
other international crises. brokered by Germany and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks during a has little say in day-to-day
Steinmeier said he wanted France. The agreement has press conference during his meeting with Russian President politics.
to explore “whether there helped reduce the scope Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Germany only has a care-
are ways out of a negative of hostilities that have killed Oct. 25, 2017. taker government at pres-
spiral we had in the past of more than 10,000 people (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP) ent as Chancellor Angela
lost confidence, of mutual since fighting began in April that he and Steinmeier keeping contingent in east- Merkel is trying to form a
accusations and misunder- 2014. discussed the possible de- ern Ukraine, but gave no new governing coalition af-
standings.” The Russian leader added ployment of a U.N. peace- details. Russia and Ukraine ter last month’s election. q