by Tian Dongdong

BRUSSELS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has restated its interest in a close future partnership with Britain, while taking into account London's repeated demand to leave the single market and the customs union, said newly endorsed guidelines for the second-phase Brexit talks.

Given the green light by the EU 27 (all EU countries except Britain) leaders during a two-day summit in Brussels which concluded Friday, the guidelines were widely seen as a starting point for future EU-Britain talks.

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS BASED BALANCE

"The European Council reiterates in particular that any agreement with the United Kingdom will have to be based on a balance of rights and obligations, and ensure a level playing field. A non-member of the Union, that does not live up to the same obligations as a member, cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member," said the guidelines.

It further noted that "the four freedoms are indivisible and that there can be no 'cherry picking' through participation in the single market."

The four freedoms refer to the free movement of goods, capital, services and labor.

But the EU may eventually offer less than what Britain expected. Local media mainly focus on two types of future relations -- Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)-type, the Canadian model, or European Economic Area (EEA)-type, the Norwegian model.

The CETA-type deal would fall much shorter of what Britain is looking for, because it offers relatively limited access in services, with no passporting rights for financial services -- an important sector for Britain, said Maria Demertzis, deputy director of the Bruegel think tank based in Brussels.

On the other hand, the EEA-type agreement could give Britain much of what it is looking for in trade, including passporting rights for financial services. But the EU insists that access to its single market, which EEA countries enjoy, must mean not only free movement of goods, services and capital, but also of labor -- a demand Britain is unwilling to accept, she added.

EU READY TO INITIATE WORK FOR FTA

"As regards the core of the economic relationship, the European Council confirms its readiness to initiate work towards a balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging free trade agreement (FTA) insofar as there are sufficient guarantees for a level playing field," said the guidelines.

The FTA will cover areas including trade in goods, access to reciprocal fishing waters and resources, and appropriate customs cooperation and trade in services, among which reciprocal fishing rights have been a headache for British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May is facing further pressure from her own backbenchers over government concessions on the issue during the transition.

In a letter to the prime minister, 12 Tories and a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP hinted that they could vote down the transition plan. In a protest against the deal, MPs joined fishermen to dump fish into the Thames opposite the Parliament.

The MPs said that the proposal for Britain to remain in the EU's fisheries policy for almost two years after Brexit day next March with no say over the allocation of quotas would not command the support of the Commons.

IRISH BORDER ISSUE LINGERS

"Leaders will assess in June if the Irish question has been resolved," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, during the concluding press conference of the summit.

In the guidelines, the EU also called for intensified efforts on the remaining withdrawal issues and reiterates that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Some British media argued that Tusk's words as well as the above statement in the guidelines gave May three months to solve the Irish border dilemma or Brexit trade talks may stall.

Britain must come up with a concrete solution to the issue by the next EU summit in June or sign a legally binding backstop to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union. Failure to do so could result in a suspension of talks on the future relationship, said The Times.

The EU and Britain agreed on Monday that there must be a backstop solution to ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.