EU Council President Donald Tusk this morning pledged that the EU would not pursue a "punitive" approach during forthcoming Brexit negotiations but pointed out that the consequences of the UK's departure would be punitive enough.

He also stressed that during the two-year talks which were triggered last Wednesday when the UK invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, there would be no parallel talks with the 27 member states. The only point of contact will be the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, he said.

Mr Tusk was addressing a joint news conference with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at Castille, in which he presented the draft Brexit negotiating guidelines.

The document will be on the agenda of a special EU summit set for April 29 which is meant to pave the way forward. The UK will not be invited.

The draft guidelines are based on four main priorities, on which the EU is targeting to reach “sufficient” progress by next autumn.

The four main areas are minimising uncertainty and disruption for UK and EU citizens, with Mr Tusk reiterating his view that this would be a “damage control exercise”.

The second focus will be to prevent a “legal vacuum” due to the fact that following Brexit, EU law would no longer apply in the UK.

Talks will be difficult, complex and confrontational. There is no way around it

Thirdly, the guidelines state that both the UK and the EU have to honour their financial commitments and liabilities, and fourthly an arrangement to avoid a “hard border” between Ireland and Northern Ireland in line with the Good Friday agreement.

The EU Council President made it clear that talks on the UK's future relationship with the EU would only start once “sufficient” progress were achieved on these guidelines. He said the level of progress would be decided by the 27 member states.

“Talks will be difficult, complex and confrontational. There is no way around it,” he said.

Mr Tusk warned that no member state would be allowed to have parallel talks with Britain, saying he was buoyed by the unity which prevailed during last week's summit in Rome.

"All 27 will be united during negotiations – this is not propaganda. This is the only way to achieve anything."

The EU council president also allayed concerns that security would be used as a bargaining chip during negotiations, saying remarks made by UK Prime Minister Theresa May had been “misunderstood”.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the EU was showing flexibility and was even open to discuss a transitional period. However, he said this phase would have to subject to EU institutions. 

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