EU to hold special Brexit summit April 29: Tusk

The EU's remaining 27 member states will hold a special summit on April 29 to decide the political objectives for Brexit talks, president Donald Tusk said yesterday.

Tusk's announcement came a day after London said Prime Minister Theresa May would trigger the two-year process for Britain's departure on March 29.

"In view of what was announced in London yesterday, I would like to inform you that I will call a European Council on Saturday the 29th of April to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks," Tusk told a press conference in Brussels.

The European Council president has said he will issue the draft guidelines for the 27 leaders within 48 hours of May triggering Article 50 -- the divorce clause in the EU's treaties -- next week.

"I personally wish the UK hadn't chosen to leave the EU but the majority of British voters decided otherwise. Therefore we must do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU," he said, standing alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The actual Brexit talks will not start for around three or possibly more weeks after the summit, as leaders have to approve more detailed negotiating lines and give a mandate to European Commission negotiator Michel Barnier, EU officials said.

Time will now be limited for Britain to negotiate the terms of its departure and a future trade deal by the deadline of March 2019.

Meanwhile,Scottish lawmakers yesterday begin a two-day debate on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's call for an independence referendum -- a major headache for Prime Minister Theresa May as she prepares to launch Brexit.

The Scottish parliament is expected to vote today to endorse Sturgeon's call for a second vote, less than three years after Scots rejected independence in a 2014 referendum.