A concession?
For all the fighting talk at the start of the fourth round of Brexit negotiations, the EU is now considering a concession . Moving talks on to trade next month looks all but out of reach, but Bloomberg’s Ian Wishart and Viktoria Dendrinou report that EU governments may allow negotiations about the transition period to be brought forward. It’s a minor concession and the two sides remain far apart on some key issues, but movement on an issue that’s so crucial for U.K. businesses would ease negotiations over the bill. It would also show that Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech in Florence last week hit at least some of the right notes in Europe. The concession could see chief negotiator Michel Barnier handed an amended mandate. When EU leaders meet at a summit in October they may allow Barnier to address the transition alongside the divorce, according to people familiar with the situation. Initially any transition was meant to be debated only after the divorce had been settle