Brexit deal has to be closed before 2019 elections

Brexit deal has not yet begun, but it already appears uphill, after the European Commission has appointed as negotiator few days ago, the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the current leader of the liberals at the European Parliament.

In a tweet he said: "Brexit should be delivered before 2019, when EU politics enters into new cycle & the @Europarl_EN starts new mandate" and pointing out that if the UK wants to continue to have access to the common market, must also accept the freedom of movement of citizens, considering "inseparable" the four freedoms of movement of goods, services, capital and people.

For its part, the British prime minister Theresa May made it clear to its citizens that it would be improper that his government would make public the slightest progress in the negotiations with Brussels, when it started, but it has also ensured that this will be based on the principle of limitation of immigration in the United Kingdom.

Downing Street should activate the clause contained in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to launch formal negotiations, while Europe has firmly signaled to London to be unavailable to hold informal talks on the issue. According to recent news of the British government, the matter would be postponed to the beginning of next year, "until we have no clear idea on the result you want to achieve", to quote the words of May.

Therefore, the two negotiating parties are engaging in mutually opposite positions. London aims to maintain access to the common market, but by restricting the entry of European citizens, while Brussels considers the essential link between freedom of movement and common market.

But Mr Verhofstadt was clear:  "I want the UK to trigger Article 50 as soon as possible, so we can finalise these negotiations by 2019. I can't imagine we start the next legislative cycle without agreement over UK withdrawal." European elections will be held in 2019 and without any decision about Brexit, they could be more difficult: 73 of the European Parliament's 751 MEPs represent the UK and those seats have to be redistributed among 27 member countries.