The European Union completed preparations necessary to begin talks over Britain's exit from the bloc on Monday after the remaining 27 EU member states signed off on the final details of the bloc's negotiating mandate during a ministerial meeting.
While the approval means that the EU now stands ready to begin talks, the bloc has said that negotiations would not commence until after Britain's general election set for June 8.
European affairs ministers approved a package authorizing the opening of negotiations, nominating the European Commission as the party negotiating on the EU's behalf and adopting detailed directives for the talks based on political guidelines provided by 27 EU leaders in April.
"We are very well prepared for these negotiations and the remarkable thing is that we are unified at 27," said Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
