Michael Barnier, the European Un ion’s Brexit negotiator has laid out an approximate timeline for the negotiations, calling for an orderly exit from the Union. In his first press conference after being appointed as the EU’s chief negotiator, Mr. Barnier said that it is too soon to talk about the details of the negotiations due to the unprecedented nature of the happenings. He, however, pointed out that the actual negotiation timeline would be less than two years, timeline described under Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty. He said, “Time will be short. All in all, there will be less than 18 months to negotiate. That is short.

Should the UK notify the EU by the end of March 2017, it is safe to say negotiations could start a few weeks later and an agreement reached by October 2018.” According to him, reaching an agreement by the autumn of 2018 would give the government of 27 member countries as well as the UK five to six months to ratify the agreement before European parliamentary election in 2019.

Mr. Barnier maintained the EU hardline that the UK would not be allowed to cherry pick a deal and said that a third country can never have the benefits of full membership. He is waiting to hear the UK’s intentions and then he and the 27 members would react to that. He is looking for neither a soft exit nor a hard one but a clear one.