President of the European Council Donald Tusk has confirmed that EU leaders have agreed to move on to the second phase of Brexit talks.
Talks can now move on to the long-term relationship between the UK and EU, days after UK PM Theresa May suffered a defeat in the House of Commons.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this process would be “significantly harder”.
The European Commission has said “sufficient progress” has been made on the first phase to move on to discussing the framework of a future relationship, including issues such as security and trade.
Juncker said the EU’s initial priority was to “formalise the agreement we have now” on issues such as citizens’ rights before starting negotiations on a future relationship after the UK leaves in March 2019.
“The second phase will be significantly harder than the first and the first was very difficult,” he added.
