Details of Brexit process revealed in EU documents

The European Union (EU) has published two documents that detail the "painstaking" process of Brexit -- Britain's exit from the 27-member bloc, the media reported on Tuesday.

The documents published late on Monday were the most detailed positions yet from the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on the upcoming "divorce talks" with the UK, reports the Guardian.

In the two documents, the bloc has elaborated its stance on the Brexit bill and citizens' rights.

Neither Prime Minister Theresa May nor opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn referred to them directly during a 90-minute Sky/Channel 4 TV debate on Monday evening.

Both leaders declared they would secure a good deal, without going into specifics on issues that the EU has already taken a position on.

On citizens' rights, the documents spells out in greater detail the protections it wants to secure for nearly 5 million people on the wrong side of Brexit -- 3.5 million EU nationals in the UK and 1.2 million Britons on the continent, the Guardian reported.

Diplomats from the EU's 27 remaining member states will discuss the papers on Tuesday and Thursday without Britain, and could amend them.

The EU has promised to publish key Brexit documents, a decision that is both a transparency pledge and a negotiating tactic.

--IANS

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