Trump and Brexit Aren't Behind EU's Defense Drive, Leaders Say

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"One year after their referendum, we still don't know the British position in the negotiations on Brexit and it seems hard to predict when we will because democracy often requires time", she said.

European Union leaders fear British Prime Minister Theresa May's shock loss of her majority in the snap British election will delay Brexit talks due to start this month and raise the risk of negotiations failing.

Asked whether he believed the election result indicated that the British were "turning their backs on Brexit", he said: "We will have to wait and see".

That end date of March 2019 can only be shifted if all 27 member states agree to do so. Do your best to avoid a "no deal" as result of "no negotiations".

This, the reasoning goes, would make her able to make compromises on thorny issues such as the exit bill, and on safeguarding benefits and immigration rights of European Union citizens living in Britain.

The EU is eyeing June 19, 11 days after Thursday's election, for the formal start of two years of tough talks, with informal contacts "soon" after the election result.

An article on the Europe edition of website Politico said Britain was waking up on Friday morning "more divided and uncertain about its future than anyone thought possible", with Mrs May "struggling to cling on to her job, unsure whether she will even be able to form a minority government".

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has delivered a similar warning about the threats.

Norway Supreme Court won`t hear Breivik case on prison conditions
That verdict was also a heavy blow to the Norwegian state, which prides itself of having a humane prison system. Victims and survivors' families have welcomed the supreme court's decision.

Juncker said he hoped the election result would have "no major impact on the negotiations we are desperately waiting for".

Another EU official in Brussels said it was too early to speculate on how the bloc would react to a change in Britain's demands for its withdrawal.

Germany's European affairs minister Michael Roth said that time was tight until the expiry of a two-year window to reach a negotiated deal: "We should not waste any time", he said.

"What the United Kingdom asks for might not be quite as hard, quite as tough as she was asking for before". Now, all remains unclear.

As with any divorce, the European Union is meanwhile keen to show that it is moving on altogether.

The election of pro-European French President Emmanuel Macron has given new impetus to these efforts, seen as even more important as the European Union copes with a hard partner over the Atlantic in the form of Donald Trump.

"I don't think we should talk about some prolongation of the deadline", he said in Prague.

US President Donald Trump, who follows an "America First" policy, berated his European partners on military spending at a raucous North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Brussels last month.

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