20 June, 2017
Nearly exactly a year after Britain's referendum to leave the bloc, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier of France, welcomed his counterpart David Davis with a handshake at the European Commission in Brussels.
Meanwhile, Mr Barnier said he believed a "fair" deal was possible for both sides but he made clear the talks, beginning a year after the UK's Brexit referendum, would take place according to a timetable set by the EU.
And he added: "We are starting this negotiation in a positive and constructive tone, determined to build a strong and special partnership between ourselves and our European allies and friends for the future".
Britain already appears to have capitulated to the EU's insistence that talks first focus on three key divorce issues, before moving onto the future EU-UK relationship and a possible trade deal.
Mr Barnier said the meeting was a "useful" opportunity to "get off on the right foot", and quoting French diplomat and European Union founding father Jean Monnet, he said he was "neither optimistic nor pessimistic" but "determined".
Mr Martin, who passionately campaigned for Brexit, insisted most MPs had been elected on a pro-EU exit ticket as he warned against backpacking on the people's decision.
A year after its historic vote, Britain on Monday finally opened negotiations with the other 27 European Union nations about leaving the bloc, with the final outcome, due in 2019, as globally important as it now seems unpredictable.
But Mr Barnier added that he was "not in a frame of mind to make concessions", and suggested the United Kingdom would have to face up to "substantial" consequences of leaving the EU.
May, bruised by an election this month that cost her Conservatives their parliamentary majority, will make her case for a quick agreement on residency for EU nationals and employment rights at a summit of European leaders in the Belgian capital later this week.
The discussions will include working groups, and meetings of Brexit coordinators from both sides, before a joint press conference at 6.30pm.
The other priorities will be to agree a method to calculate the UK's financial and European Union budget commitments, and finding a solution that would avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Barnier said there will be one week of negotiations every month and the two sides will use the time in between to work out proposals.
Mr Davis said the move had "absolutely nothing to do with negotiations inside the Houses of Commons", where British Conservatives are in talks with the Democratic Unionist Party to try to form a minority government.
As reported, even before Article 50 was triggered, United Kingdom prime minister Theresa May, (pictured left), met with the Spanish prime minister and government officials to discuss the expat conundrum. EU leaders want May to lay off threats that she would walk out and leave a chaotic legal limbo for all Europeans.
Officials are hopeful that there can be swift progress on some areas of the border problem but Mr Davis acknowledged the issue as a whole "will take some considerable time".
"The UK is going to leave the European Union, single market and the customs union, not the other way around".
Dr Fox said: "Our valuable talks underlined the shared interest in forging a closer trade and economic relationship including making progress on policy co-ordination, regulatory issues and expanding trade and investment between our economies".
Dr Fox is meeting a congressional delegation on Capitol Hill in an attempt to pave the way for a UK/US Free Trade agreement.
