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BRUSSELS, Dec. 15-- Leaders of the 27 European Union (EU) members gathered here for the Winter EU Summit had approved the second phase of Brexit talks, European Council President Donald Tusk said Friday. "The European Council welcomes the progress achieved during the first phase of negotiations as reflected in the Communication from the Commission and the Joint Report, and decides that it is sufficient to move to the second phase related to transition and the framework for the future relationship," said a Guidelines submitted by the General Secretariat of the Council to the leaders. Commenting on the approval, British Prime Minister Theresa May thanked Tusk and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker via her twitter account, saying "Today is an important step on the road to delivering a smooth and orderly Brexit and forging our deep and special future partnership." Echoing May's optimism, David Davis, Britain's Brexit Secretary and a staunch Brexiter, said on twitter that "Today is a good day for Brexit and an important step for Britain. Thanks to hard work and determination, we have reached an important milestone and have achieved sufficient progress. There are still lots of work to come but we are ready for the next stage." A STRONGLY-WORDED GUIDELINE Despite May and Davis' optimism, the Guidelines made it crystal clear that negotiations in the second phase can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken during the first phase are respected in full and translated faithfully into legal terms as quickly as possible. | 
