A meeting in Brussels of national negotiators of the 27 EU states staying on together after Brexit ended with no agreement on Gibraltar after nearly three hours. "The work continues," one diplomatic source said.

Four months before Britain leaves the EU, the legal divorce treaty and an accompanying political declaration on future ties are due to be rubber-stamped by British Prime Minister Theresa May and the leaders of the 27 countries remaining in the EU.

Related: Brexit uncertainties cause Irish border communities to fear the worst

May will arrive for more talks with the head of the EU's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels late on Saturday, just hours before the summit is due to start.

Her spokeswoman said in London May would work with the Spanish government on Gibraltar, a disputed British overseas territory.

Spain has asked for changes to Britain's legal withdrawal treaty and the accompanying political declaration to make clear any decisions about Gibraltar would only be taken with Madrid.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday Spain would be against the Brexit package on Sunday if it is not changed.

Related: Officials: Brexit process likely to go into overtime

"After my conversation with Theresa May, our positions remain far away. My government will always defend the interests of Spain. If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit," he said.

Under EU rules, the withdrawal treaty is adopted by a majority and not unanimity, so a single state cannot block it. However, EU leaders want unity on this most politically sensitive matter.

"We've worked very hard and have in fact reached an agreement with Spanish colleagues in respect of Gibraltar's role in the withdrawal process," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Friday.

"If [the withdrawal agreement is] opened for one comma or one full-stop on Gibraltar, it's going to be re-opened on any of the other issues."

The Brexit accord faces vehement opposition in the British parliament, which must vote in favor for it to take effect. Otherwise, Britain risks leaving the bloc on March 29, 2019, without an agreement to mitigate economic disruption.

May's former Brexit minister Dominic Raab on Friday expected the House of Commons to vote it down.

Determined not to allow any redrafting of either of the two texts and risk derailing the process, EU states have instead proposed addressing Spain's concerns in a separate statement by the 27 leaders on Sunday that would not be part of negotiations with Britain.

It could refer back to the EU's 2017 Brexit negotiating mandate, which said: "After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom."

Diplomatic sources said the 27 EU leaders' negotiators, or 'sherpas,' added to the statement more clauses on climate and expatriate rights to compliment lines on fisheries and industry rules already contained in a draft seen by Reuters.

The EU's 27 national negotiators are due to meet again on Saturday.

EU diplomats had hoped a text would be agreed by late Friday but fear Sanchez will want to discuss it at the top level on Sunday to show determination and score points with voters at home ahead of a December regional election.

Germany has said there can be no more technical negotiations at what is supposed to be a largely ceremonial summit and said Chancellor Angela Merkel could skip it if all the texts are not ready in advance.

Related: Brexit looms for more than 100,000 Brits living in Germany

The Brexit deal covers financial settlement, expatriates' rights and the Irish border, as well as setting a blueprint for future trade and security ties. It must also be backed by the European Parliament to come into force.</s>Nov 24 (Reuters) - Britain provided assurances to the European Union on Saturday that it will not insist on interpreting the Brexit withdrawal agreement as binding the EU to apply a future EU-UK trade treaty to Gibraltar, soothing Spanish concerns on the issue.

The British government “will negotiate the future agreements implementing the Joint Political Declaration on behalf of all territories for whose external relations the UK is responsible to ensure an appropriate and beneficial future relationship with the EU, taking into account their existing relationships with the European Union,” according to a letter from British ambassador to the EU council Tim Barrow.

The letter was published online by the British government.</s>Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose country claims the rock should be part of its territory, withdrew a threat to boycott Sunday's European Council just hours before Britain's Theresa May was due in Brussels.

The British premier plans to meet EU leaders Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, even though diplomats say the agreement is ready for EU leaders to approve.

Ahead of her arrival, diplomats had scrambled for an unexpectedly intense final round of discussion, after Spain insisted on keeping a veto over future changes to EU ties with Gibraltar.

Then Britain issued a statement saying it would continue bilateral talks with Spain after Brexit on 29 March -- and Sanchez relented.

"I have just announced to the King that Spain has reached an agreement on Gibraltar," he told a news conference.

"The European Council will therefore be held tomorrow. Europe and the United Kingdom have accepted Spain's demands. Spain has lifted the veto and will vote in favour of Brexit."

Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop home to a port and around 30,000 people, is a British territory claimed by Spain and a bone of contention as London negotiates a new relationship with Brussels beyond Brexit.

Even as Sanchez was speaking, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, was finally able to issue his letter inviting the leaders of EU member states to Sunday's summit.

"I will recommend that on Sunday we approve the outcome of the Brexit negotiations," Tusk said, saying the deal on the table reduces "the risks and losses resulting from the United Kingdom's withdrawal".

"And although no-one will have reasons to be happy on that day, there is one thing I would like to stress: at this critical time, the EU27 has passed the test of unity and solidarity," he added.

According to Tusk's invitation, the withdrawal agreement protects citizens' rights and the Northern Ireland peace process, while ensuring Britain will keep paying EU dues during a transition period.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday the United Kingdom would “always stand by Gibraltar” after Spain got enough assurances over the peninsula to unblock the European Union’s Brexit deal with London.

“We will always negotiate on behalf of the whole UK family, including Gibraltar,” May said on arriving for talks in Brussels with Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders’ summit that is due to approve the Brexit deal on Sunday.

“We have worked through the withdrawal issues for Gibraltar in a constructive and sensible way,” she said.

“We have ensured that Gibraltar is covered by the whole agreement and by the implementation period.”</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An 11th-hour deal on Saturday to answer Spanish demands for a big say on Gibraltar after Britain leaves the EU has salvaged an EU summit which will now go ahead as planned on Sunday to deliver a Brexit accord.

With British Prime Minister Theresa May due to meet EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker and summit chair Donald Tusk at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) and 7:15 p.m. respectively, Tusk secured a deal with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who had been threatening to scupper the consensus by staying away on Sunday.

“After the phone call between (Tusk) and (Sanchez) a few minutes ago, we are closer to tomorrow’s (European Council),” Tusk’s spokesman Preben Aamann said on Twitter.

The British government released a letter from the British ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow to the head of Tusk’s secretariat spelling out that Britain would make no presumption that any future EU-UK trade pact would apply to Gibraltar.

Sanchez was due to make a statement in Madrid at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) to outline the agreement, diplomats said, after British and Spanish negotiators talked through the night with EU officials trying to broker a deal that would reassure Madrid on how the Brexit treaties would apply to Gibraltar and give it a clear say on their application — without reopening the texts.

Those assurances should form part of a brief statement agreed by the 27 EU leaders and added to the minutes of Sunday morning’s hour-long meeting before the 27 meet May at 11 a.m.

“Negotiations went on through the night with Spain and Britain,” one diplomatic source said. “In a telephone conversation just now, Tusk and Sanchez reached an agreement on Gibraltar. The summit will go ahead.”

Many Brussels insiders view Sanchez’s gambit as summit grandstanding for domestic purposes — he faces a regional election next weekend in Andalusia, the province to which Spaniards argue Britain’s 300-year-old naval base and 30,000 citizens on the rock of Gibraltar rightly belong.

The biggest obstacle to the Brexit accord overall is the vehement opposition in the British parliament. Without its approval, Britain could leave the bloc on March 29 without an agreement to mitigate economic and legal disruption.</s>London – European Union diplomats were meeting Friday to finalize the draft divorce agreement between Britain and the bloc, amid a warning from Spain that it will oppose the deal if it isn’t guaranteed a say over the future of Gibraltar.

Leaders of EU nations are due to meet Sunday to sign off on the deal, which lays out the terms of Britain’s departure in March and sets up a framework for future relations. But Spain remains unsatisfied.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted that Britain and Spain “remain far away” on the issue and “if there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.”

Spain wants the future of the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula – ceded to Britain in 1713 but still claimed by Spain – to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. Spanish officials are concerned that a key clause in the agreement referring to U.K.-EU negotiations on their future relationship makes no mention of Gibraltar.

Spain doesn’t have a veto on the withdrawal agreement, which does not have to be approved unanimously. But it could hold up a future free-trade deal between Britain and the EU, which would require approval of all 27 EU nations.

A Spanish government official said the dispute over Gibraltar could be resolved by modifying a single clause in the divorce agreement – though both Britain and the EU have said the agreement won’t be amended.

Spain’s junior minister for the EU, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said Friday that officials could tweak article 184 to make it clear that future relations between the EU and Gibraltar “will be negotiated with the U.K. with Spain’s prior consent.”

He said in an interview with Spain’s Onda Cero radio station that officials in Brussels were working on options to accommodate Spain’s concerns about Gibraltar, and estimated there was a 60 percent chance of success.

Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo criticized Spain’s insistence on a written guarantee, saying “Gibraltar has demonstrated that we actually want a direct engagement with Spain on issues.”

“Spain is the physical and geographical gateway to Europe for Gibraltar,” Picardo told the BBC. “We recognize that and there is absolutely no need for us to be vetoed into being brought to the table.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Germany believed outstanding questions would be cleared up in time for Sunday’s summit to go ahead.

“We assume that open questions can be cleared up by Sunday,” spokesman Steffen Seibert said. “That is being worked on intensively, so the chancellor is preparing for the trip to Brussels.”

If EU leaders rubber-stamp the deal, it needs to be approved by the European and British Parliaments – a tough task for British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservatives lack a majority in the House of Commons.

May was answering calls on a radio phone-in Friday in a bid to win public support for the divorce deal, which has been slammed by pro-Brexit and pro-EU politicians alike.

Brexiteers think the agreement will leave the U.K. tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc – its neighbor and biggest trading partner.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spanish reservations over Gibraltar on Friday prevented the European Union clearing the last hurdle before a summit that is due to endorse the bloc’s Brexit deal with Britain on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will pick up the baton on Saturday evening when she holds talks in Brussels with Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the EU’s executive Commission.

National negotiators of the 27 EU states staying on together after Brexit reached no agreement on Gibraltar on Friday.

With four months left until Britain leaves the EU, the legal divorce treaty and an accompanying political declaration are due to be rubber-stamped in Brussels by May and the other 27 EU leaders so that they can then go to the respective parliaments.

Spain has asked for changes to both the draft withdrawal treaty and the accompanying declaration on future ties to spell out that any decisions about Gibraltar, a rocky, peninsular British overseas territory that Spain claims as its own, would only be taken together with Madrid.

Spain says Britain had given it corresponding assurances before publishing its latest draft.

At Sunday’s summit, the EU leaders would expect to endorse the treaty and approve the declaration by consensus, which means Spain in effect has the power to hold up the process.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday: “After my conversation with Theresa May, our positions remain far away,” adding: “If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.”

May’s spokeswoman said May would work with the Spanish government on Gibraltar.

In Germany, a government spokesman was confident a solution would be found in time for Sunday’s summit.

Berlin had earlier said there could be no more technical negotiations at the summit, and that Chancellor Angela Merkel could skip it if all the texts are not ready in advance.

If everything goes according to the plan and the Brexit package is approved on Sunday, the EU will also commit to try to secure prompt ratification by the European Parliament “to provide for an orderly withdrawal”, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.

However, the biggest obstacle to the Brexit accord is the vehement opposition in the British parliament. Without its approval, Britain could leave the bloc on March 29 without an agreement to mitigate economic and legal disruption.

Former Brexit minister Dominic Raab on Friday said he expected the House of Commons to vote the deal it down.

May responded that Britain would not get a better deal with the EU if it did not take this one.

Determined not to allow any redrafting to risk derailing the fragile process, EU states want to address Spain’s concerns in a separate statement by the 27 leaders on Sunday that would not be part of negotiations with Britain.

It could refer back to the EU’s 2017 Brexit mandate, which said that, after Brexit, “no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between ... Spain and the United Kingdom”.

It would clarify that the EU’s reading of the corresponding paragraphs in the divorce treaty and the declaration on future ties is exactly that.

Other clauses in this separate statement say, according to a draft seen by Reuters, that the bloc would want to get a new deal on fisheries with Britain as a priority in talks on the broader trade relationship, to be agreed “well before” the end of Britain’s status-quo transition period after Brexit.

It adds that any such deal would build on the existing access of EU vessels to Britain’s rich fishing waters, something London wants to be firmly in control of.

It further highlights EU demands that Britain does not undercut labour, environmental or labour standards. It stresses the needs to safeguard expatriates’ rights, as well as the Paris climate accord.

EU diplomats hoped a text would be agreed late on Friday, but feared Sanchez would still want to discuss it at the top level on Sunday to demonstrate his determination at home ahead of a December regional election.

“It will only be done by the leaders,” said one diplomat.

The Brexit deal covers financial settlement, citizens’ rights and the Irish border, as well as setting a blueprint for future trade and security ties.</s>London (AP) — Spain pushed Friday for a cast-iron guarantee of its say over the future of Gibraltar as a condition for backing a divorce agreement between Britain and European Union, as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May battled to win approval for the deal from skeptical politicians and a Brexit-weary populace.

Spain’s leader warned he would oppose the deal, which lays out the terms of Britain’s departure in March and sets up a framework for future relations, if language wasn’t added on Gibraltar, the disputed territory at the tip of the Iberian peninsula.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez — who is due to join other EU leaders at a Brussels summit on Sunday to rubber-stamp the deal — tweeted that Britain and Spain “remain far away” on the issue and “if there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.”

Spain wants the future of the tiny territory, which was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain, to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London.

Last year’s EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory. But Spanish officials are concerned that a key clause in the agreement referring to U.K.-EU negotiations on their future relationship makes no mention of Gibraltar.

Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said Spain required an “absolute guarantee” that any future agreement between the EU and the U.K. in matters regarding Gibraltar “will require the prior agreement of Spain.”

Spain doesn’t have a veto on the withdrawal agreement, which doesn’t have to be approved unanimously. But it could hold up a future free-trade deal between Britain and the EU, which would require the approval of all 27 EU nations.

Spain’s junior minister for the European Union, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said Friday that British authorities had made a commitment to address Spain’s concerns on Gibraltar, but that he had not yet seen it in writing.

“We have a promise, a commitment, from the British government saying they are ready to … guarantee that they will go along with the clarification we have requested,” he said.

After a meeting in Brussels Friday of senior EU officials, the Spanish government said negotiations were continuing but not enough progress had been made to drop the veto threat.

Britain and the EU say the withdrawal agreement won’t be changed but haven’t ruled out putting something in writing to allay Spain’s fears.

May said Friday that “we have been working with the government of Gibraltar and the government of Spain” on measures for Gibraltar.

Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo criticized Spain’s insistence on a written guarantee, saying Gibraltar — a largely self-governing British overseas territory — “has demonstrated that we actually want a direct engagement with Spain on issues.”

“Spain is the physical and geographical gateway to Europe for Gibraltar,” Picardo told the BBC. “We recognize that and there is absolutely no need for us to be vetoed into being brought to the table.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Germany believed outstanding questions would be cleared up in time for Sunday’s summit to go ahead.

“We assume that open questions can be cleared up by Sunday,” spokesman Steffen Seibert said. “That is being worked on intensively, so the chancellor is preparing for the trip to Brussels.”

If EU leaders sign off on the deal, it needs to be approved by the European and British Parliaments — a tough task for May, whose Conservatives lack a majority in the House of Commons.

May answered calls on a radio phone-in show Friday in a bid to win public support for the divorce deal, which has been slammed by pro-Brexit and pro-EU politicians alike.

Brexiteers think the agreement will leave the U.K. tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc — its neighbor and biggest trading partner.

May declined to say when asked by a caller whether she would resign if the deal was rejected by Parliament.

“This isn’t about me,” she said. “I’m not thinking about me. I’m thinking about getting a deal through that delivers for this country.”

She warned that rejecting the deal would lead to “more uncertainty and more division” and could result in Britain crashing out of the bloc without agreement — an outcome feared by many businesses.

“If this deal doesn’t go through what happens is, we end up back at square one,” May said.

I don’t think (the EU) are going to come to us and say, ‘We’ll give you a better deal,'” she added.</s>LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s exit from the European Union (all times local): 3:25 p.m. Spain’s junior minister for the European Union says British authorities have consented to Spanish demands granting Madrid prior…

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s exit from the European Union (all times local):

Spain’s junior minister for the European Union says British authorities have consented to Spanish demands granting Madrid prior approval on matters relating to Gibraltar.

Luis Marco Aguiriano says “we have a promise, a commitment, from the British government saying they are ready to … guarantee that they will go along with the clarification we have requested.”

Spain has threatened to block a Brexit agreement unless its demands on Gibraltar are accepted.

Britain says the withdrawal agreement won’t be changed but has not ruled out putting something in writing to allay Spain’s fears.

Spanish private news agency Europa Press says Aguiriano told reporters in Brussels on Friday he can’t announce yet that Spain is dropping its veto threat because he hasn’t yet seen a written version of the British promise.

He says Spain wants London to make the written promise public. After that, it will have to be endorsed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Britain says the withdrawal agreement won’t be changed, but has not ruled out putting something in writing to allay Spain’s fears.

A Spanish government spokeswoman says Spain won’t settle for anything less than veto power over any issue regarding Gibraltar in negotiations about Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Isabel Celaa said Friday that prior approval on matters involving Gibraltar is “decisive” for Madrid to approve the Brexit agreement on future U.K.-EU relations.

She said after a weekly Cabinet meeting that Spain requires an “absolute guarantee” that any future agreement between the EU and the U.K. in matters regarding Gibraltar “will require the prior agreement of Spain.”

Spain has never relinquished its claim to jurisdiction over the British territory of 32,000 people on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has refused to say whether she will resign if her Brexit deal with the European Union is rejected by Parliament.

The agreement has drawn strong criticism from lawmakers in May’s own Conservative Party as well as from opposition parties, and she faces a struggle to get Parliament to approve it.

Asked on a radio phone-in whether she would quit if the deal failed, May said: “This isn’t about me.”

She said: “I’m not thinking about me. I’m thinking about getting a deal through that delivers for this country.”

EU leaders are due to meet Sunday to sign off on the deal.

May said that once that happens she plans to tour Britain explaining the benefits of the agreement.

A Spanish government official says the spat over Gibraltar can be resolved by modifying a single clause in the United Kingdom’s divorce agreement from the European Union.

Spain’s junior minister for the EU, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said Friday that officials could tweak article 184 to make it clear that future relations between the EU and Gibraltar “will be negotiated with the U.K. with Spain’s prior consent.”

He said in an interview with Spain’s Onda Cero radio station that officials in Brussels were working on options to accommodate Spain’s concerns about Gibraltar. He estimated there was a 60 percent chance of success.

Madrid has never dropped its claim of sovereignty over the rocky outcrop at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula, which was ceded to Britain just over 300 years ago.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says Germany believes that outstanding questions about the Brexit deal will be cleared up in time for a special European Union summit to go ahead on Sunday.

Spain has warned that it will oppose a declaration on future relations with Britain if it isn’t guaranteed a say over the future of Gibraltar, though it doesn’t have a veto on the actual withdrawal agreement.

Asked Friday whether it’s possible that the summit might not go ahead, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “We assume that open questions can be cleared up by Sunday. That is being worked on intensively, so the chancellor is preparing for the trip to Brussels.”

Germany’s finance minister says Berlin still hopes for a regulated British exit from the European Union but that the country is also prepared for the possibility of a Brexit without a negotiated deal.

Olaf Scholz, who is also the vice chancellor, was quoted by the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper Friday as saying that an unregulated Brexit would be bad for everyone, and hit the British the worst.

But, he says, “we are preparing ourselves very carefully for both variants, the controlled and the uncontrolled Brexit. Both present us with challenges, but we can and will manage them.”

European Union diplomats are meeting to finalize the draft divorce agreement between Britain and the bloc, amid a warning from Spain that it will oppose the deal if it isn’t guaranteed a say over the future of Gibraltar.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted that Britain and Spain “remain far away” on the issue and “if there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.”

Spain wants the future of the tiny British territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London.

Spain doesn’t have a veto on the withdrawal agreement, which does not have to be approved unanimously. But it could hold up a future free-trade deal between Britain and the EU, which would require approval of all 27 EU nations.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.</s>FILE - In this Wednesday, March 1, 2017 file photo, a Barbary macaque, the only free-roaming monkeys in Europe pauses, with the Rock of Gibraltar looming in the background, in the British territory of Gibraltar. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a press conference on Wednesday Nov. 21, 2018 that his government is "annoyed" that the divorce agreement being prepared for Britain's exit from the European Union doesn't specify that Gibraltar's future must be decided directly by officials in Madrid and London. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, File) (Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
The Spanish government and the UK government reach an agreement on Gibraltar whereby Spain lifts its threat of boycotting Sunday's summit on Brexit. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says there are now "sufficient guarantees" that any future decisions regarding Gibraltar would be made with Spain.