During the ongoing EU summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, Prime Minister May met several leaders on the sidelines in a bid to improve the situation, but there were no positive responses from any of them, according to AFP.
"The clock is ticking. I hope that we will be able to come to an agreement as far as the divorce is concerned at the December council but work has still to be done," European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.
During the summit in Gothenburg, May will also meet European Council President Donald Tusk. AFP reported, citing an EU source, that Tusk is expected to warn her that entering the next stage of talks "is not a given, will require more work and that time is short."
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who also met with May, expressed doubt over the possibility of a deal in December. He stressed that the British government "needs to clarify what they mean about the financial responsibility."
May said that Britain would stick to its commitments on the exit bill, as she pledged in her speech in Florence in September.
British media reported recently that May could line up an additional 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) for the EU as part of the divorce bill due to fears that London risks missing its December deadline to start negotiating future trade ties with the bloc, according to The Sun.
The Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels, which kicked off on June 19, are expected to wrap up by the end of March 2019. In a referendum on June 23, 2016, about 51.9 percent of British voters said "yes" to their country leaving the EU.
