Pragmatic, much more conciliatory, lots of language european values. Let me dust interrupted you, sorry to be so rude, but donald tusk is now speaking in brussels. Lets hear what he has got to say. For me. We would like to hear what he has got to say but we cannot hear him | he has got to say but we cannot hear him ithink he has got to say but we cannot hear him i think interrupting Laura Kuenssberg in full flight to listen toa Man Kuenssberg in full flight to listen to a man we cannot hear is unforgivable and i apologise there is the bold threat that no deal is better than a bad deal. What one senior mp was saying is the challenge for theresa may today is to seem resolute but also constructive, to be the iron fist in the velvet glove. I think the tone of this letter is very much velvet glove. We might now be able to hear donald tusk. This is the head of the Council Of Ministers in brussels. In essence, this is about damage control. Our goal is clear. To minimise the cost for the eu citizens, businesses and Member States. We will do everything in our power and we have all the tools to achieve this goal. And what we should stress today is that as for now, nothing has changed. Until the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, eu law will continue to apply as well and within europe. Finally, i would like to say that we have just released an official statement by the European Council, in which we stress that we will act as one and start negotiations by focusing on key arrangements for an orderly withdrawal. On friday, i will share a proposal on the Negotiating Guidelines with the Member States, to be updated by the European Council on the 29th Of April. I will refer to this and i will commend our proposals on friday during our Press Conference with Prime MinisterJoseph Muscat in malta. What can i add to this . Thank you and goodbye. Donald tusk though the president of the Council Of Europe which contains all 28 members of the eu. They meet there as Heads Of State or heads of government, in a sombre, almost sad mood there on receiving britains article 50 application to begin the process of withdrawal of the European Union. There was no talk thereof punishment beatings or of being angry, because britain is leaving. Sad, it was clear but not angen leaving. Sad, it was clear but not anger. He talked of damage control, that he wanted, that the job of the eu 27 was to control the damage that britains withdrawal of the European Union could do to them remaining 27 members. He said the Council Of Europe would act as one in the negotiations. What will happen now is mr tusk has drawn up some guidelines for the eu 27s Negotiating Position. They will become public. They will be debated within the 27 and the Heads Of State and heads of government of the eu 27 will meet towards the end of april, i think the 28th or the 29th Of April and they will then endorse the Bargaining Position of the eu 27 as they begin negotiations probably sometime, i doubt before the end of may or earlyjune. The actual negotiations when Michel Barnier, who will be tasked with carrying out these Negotiating Positions, will meet with david davis the secretary of state for brexit. So again, just as the Prime Ministers tone was interesting in the commons, so donald tusks tone was interesting in the Press Conference he just gave in brussels. Of course, many people in london suspected mr tusk would be something of an ally in these negotiations. He wants to get a deal done. He is polish and he said all 27 would have the same position but we know there are differences of emphasis between the original members of the Treaty Of Rome and the Eastern European members who came late to the game. They in particular want a deal done on eu nationals living in the United Kingdom. Theresa villiers, what has been the reaction to the Prime Ministers statement and donald tusk . I think both are trying to be positive and set a constructive tone, that that reflects a recognition that these negotiations could leave both sides better. It does not have to be a o sum game. It is in the interests of the eu and uk that we come out of this flourishing. It is a symbolic moment, the pulling of the trigger but something of an anti climax because she was restating the pub for months as we knew from the white paper. You do get the irony of take back control, you now get the attention very much on donald tusk andjunk and attention very much on donald tusk and junk and others on what will be their Negotiating StanceJean Claude Juncker. This will be on what the reaction to the referendum will be and i am very worried because the tone we heard from donald task was one of regret donald task was one of regret donald tusk. They also recognise politically that to glue the rest of the eu together, they have to make sure that britain does not prosper as well outside the eu as it would inside the eu. They said apart from the fact they will approach these talks constructively, the uk and eu will approach as one. What sort of union is it that if somebody wants to leave, they will give it about time somebody else leaves . obviously want britain to do the best possible thing and we have to champion the negotiations, but if the eu is already under strain they wa nt the eu is already under strain they want to glue it all together. Lets just stand back. The geopolitics of this does not get enough coverage. To the east it faces a group of autocrats come dictators who are threatening its borders in various ways from hard or soft power, to the west it faces are hostile american administration, for the First Time Ever an administration that doesnt seem to care about the eu whether it lives or dies. To the south it faces a continued outflow and carnage from the arab spring and the huge Refugee Problem that has brought. When you look at the eu on three sides, why would you then pick a fight with britain . You picked the right way of characterising it. Iwas britain . You picked the right way of characterising it. I was in germany La St Characterising it. I was in germany last week and they put brexit in the same basket with all these other threats and challenges, it isjust for them one of many. The mood i picked up was they are trying to glue each other together. In doing so, that might mean proving that you are better off staying within the European Union. That i worry about because i think they will have to illustrate that we are losing out. The European Union may well come to the view that for at least two of the view that for at least two of the three problems it faces, it really needs help. It needs britains help on the Security Front for its eastern border and it needs britains help to try, as they would sit, get some sense out of the trump administration. Again, why would you wa nt to administration. Again, why would you want to pick a fight . They are trying to appeal to countries on an individual basis they will be absolutely looking at they will be absolutely looking at the 27 countries around the table and they will be looking at the individual agendas, all of the individual agendas, all of the individual ways in which they can be persuaded that they need britain. That is why we need so much out of brussels about the importance of sticking together. What britain wa nts to sticking together. What britain wants to do is go around. One minister put it like this, the further you go from brussels, the more optimistic i feel, about getting a deal that works for us. That is one of the tactics they will employ. Security gets a prominent mention in this letter. I remember the first summit theresa may went to as Prime Minister in the short window she was given to speak at the end of the dinner. She tried at that early stage to nudge the leaders gathered there to start thinking about security. Most of the focus has been on trade but number ten has been trying to edge them to think about security as well, partly because it is so important. Also, thatis because it is so important. Also, that is an area where theresa may as a politician feels more comfortable because of her background as home secretary. There is also increasing resentment in the Eastern European countries that too much is determined by the original Treaty Of Rome countries. They have a different perspective. We do know something is already about the eu position because Michel Barnier helpfully wrote an article in the Financial Times this week. One is he wa nted Financial Times this week. One is he wanted a deal on reciprocal rights by eu citizens in the uk and uk citizens in the eu and he wanted it done quickly. Is that looking likely . I think there is a hope on both sides that it can be done. One of the interesting things that were suggested to me as had theresa may broached this early on with European Council, rather than going to and chloe markle rather than going to Angela Merkel, she might have been able to get it off the table. What they have been determined to see is they have been determined to see is the proper processes, that it was not possible for Angela Merkel to say yes or no to, to anything as an individual item. It seems on both sides there is a desire to get this done and get it off the table. Every politician has on its own countries people who are anxious. It is hard to see the advantage to anyone in playing this long. One of the early priorities for the British Government. The other priority which reads through almost every line of this letter is there hope to be able to get both aspects of this done at the same time, to be able to talk about withdrawal, the divorce if you like, as well as the future trade deal. The British Government, reciprocal rights, that may come good, what you have just moved on to, that could come bad . That could combat and this is likely to be the first really big fight. It is known as parallelism known as sequentially sermon. 0h, is known as parallelism known as sequentially sermon. Oh, my goodness i have mentioned it on air on other programmes in the past so i thought it was only right to use that snappy phrase as well will stop the British Government is determined that we talk about all of this stuff about how we leave and what happens afterwards at the same time. In brussels, not necessarily in every european capital, but in brussels, they wanted tie up the divorce, to get that all done to settle the cash before they Start Talking about the next bit. The two documents which have come out so far today, the 6 page letterfrom have come out so far today, the 6 page letter from the Prime Minister and the short response from the European Council display how much they are at odds. The british hope is to agree the principles of the divorce deal so they can get on with the rest of it. They are likely that is likely to be the first fight, not least because the exit bill, how much we need to pay to get out as part of that discussion. What about the Draft Resolution . It has been leaked and it does have a slightly tougher tone to it and response than we have heard so far from theresa may or donald tusk about the timescale for the trade deal and a Transition Arrangement . Said the European Parliament has magically managed to put into the Public Domain in their early response to the letter, it is not as if they are trying to get into this process and give themselves a more prominent role. They do have a role but they are not in the driving seat on this. There are plenty of people around the players who do want to make it hard, to make it tough. Around the place. Just a couple of things briefly and then we will bring others in. Taking out from the letter. The main difference is all about tone but a couple of things are significant. It says plainly the government wants early agreement on phased instrumentation. Ministers have been careful not to advocate full transitional agreements, a separate deal that will leave the eu but stabilise it, they dont want to do that. It is plain from this letter they think there is going to have to be some time the soft departure in some parts of the deal, if you like. The other thing plainly In Black And White andy by minister was at pains to mention it, significant powers coming back from brussels will go to the devolved administrations. She was at pains to point that out. There will be suspicion in snp circles about how much will end up going back to holyrood. Chris, lesley, do you think that britain will owe a large, multi billion Pound Exit Bill . Think that britain will owe a large, multibillion Pound Exit Bill . This is going to be the big early debate andi is going to be the big early debate and i doubt very much that the eu side of this will allow us to talk about the new relationship while they want to sort out bad bill. Of course there might be liabilities in terms of commitments that we have made historically, you know, the uk say that spending on various european projects up until 2020 might have been missed but there are also assets as well and in any divorce, you have two splitters. Do you think the bill will be anything like 50 billion . I think that sounds like 50 billion . I think that sounds like an opening gambit from the European Union. The worry that i have, we should have been on top of this parallelism thing months ago. That should have been a condition. Check the record, i have been banging on about it for months. It shouldve been a condition of the trigger and we should have sorted out the process before we handed them what they wanted but i worry about the hard brexiteer. If there is any compromise they might say, no deal, lets go to wto. We are going to go to ben brown. Before that, theresa villiers, it would surely be politically difficult for theresa mays government to agree any kind of brexit bill, any kind of divorce bill, without having a pretty good idea of what our future relationship with the with the eu. You make a good point. It was a question in most negotiations, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. If the government is going to compromise on money then they will not want to make that decision at an early stage, divorced from the debate on our future relationship, stage, divorced from the debate on ourfuture relationship, so i think we can all expect that the initial skirmishes of these negotiations will be. Whether they are parallel or not. That might be one of the first things that david davis and Michel Barnier will result. Lets join ben brown in brussels. Then, give is appealing, what is the mood there for britain and the eu now that this historic event has taken place . Then. That this historic event has taken place . Then. This was reflected in the tone of donald tusk, sadness, a bit of sarcasm, perhaps in his tweet that after nine months the unit tweet that after nine months the unit the uk has triggered brexit, almost saying why has it taken so long after the referendum . The European Union throughout its history has been growing and has countries knocking at its door saying, please let us into your club, and suddenly, here, you have the british permanent representative, sir tim barrow, handing over a letter saying, actually, we want out of your club. It isa actually, we want out of your club. It is a new experience for the European Union and their identity, i think. One of the things we havent quite cottoned onto here is the importance of money for the eu 27, that the britain is one of only a handful of net donors to the eu, and that with britain going, it leaves a huge hole in the eu finances. The already net donors do not want to pay more and net recipients worry that they could lose out. This is a real factor that they could lose out. This is a realfactor in the that they could lose out. This is a real factor in the eu that they could lose out. This is a realfactor in the eu position. That they could lose out. This is a real factor in the eu positionm absolutely is. Its a lot of money. Essentially, the eu is going to be poorer all round with. That is a real issue in the coming negotiations. The other thing you got to remember is, there are 27 countries left and the eu, it has its rules and it likes to stick by its rules and it likes to stick by its rules. If