Brexit summit: Why Theresa May is meeting EU leaders in Brussels this weekend

The EU's special Brexit session of the European Council explained

Theresa May is travelling to Brussels today to attend a special Brexit summit with other EU leaders. She will meet Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday, and then head to the full meeting at around 9am on Sunday. The whole thing should be wrapped up by lunchtime – if it goes to plan (and things often do not). Here’s all you need to know about it:

What is the summit about?

Theresa May is hoping that EU leaders from the 27 remaining countries will sign off the withdrawal agreements she has negotiated with Brussels.

The UK government is happy with the current agreement, as is the European Commission – which has been directly negotiating with Britain. Now the 27 leaders will have to formally approve it.

Could they reject the agreement?

If they show up at the summit, they almost certainly won’t be rejecting the agreement. This is because some national leaders, including Angela Merkel, have said they won’t attend unless there is a deal ready for them to sign. The summit is essentially for show to cap the whole thing off.

The heads of state and government want to avoid all-nighters like the ones they experienced during the Greek debt crisis, and think negotiations are best delegated to officials.

Is this the first time member states have seen the Brexit deal?

No, their officials and ambassadors in Brussels have been arguing about it for days and trying to make changes. It currently seems likely that there will be a number of “side-declarations” next to the deal clarifying aspects of it that the member states wanted to change.

Do any real sticking points remain?

A lot of member states – Denmark, France and the Netherlands especially – are annoyed that the Commission has not guaranteed their fishing fleets access to UK waters as part of the deal. They think this is important because the Northern Ireland backstop essentially gives the UK the benefits of the EU customs union, which was supposed to be a bargaining chip. It's possible this issue could be solved by a so-called "side-declaration" where leaders make clear how they think the agreement should be interpreted.

Spain is also angry because it does not want the agreement to apply to Gibraltar and says it will vote against the plan. It can't stop it on its own, though if the fishing nations aren't satisfied, there could be trouble.

Who will we hear from at the summit?

Leaders will give their views on the deal on the way in, on the doorstep of the summit. Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Council president Donald Tusk will give a press conference after everything is signed off. Theresa May might also give a press conference of her own, though this has not been confirmed. There'll also be a presentation by European Parliament president Antoni Tajani.

Does this mean Brexit negotiations are over?

Far from it. Once the withdrawal agreement is approved there will need to be negotiations about what the trade relationship will be. These will start next March, if everything goes to plan, and they will take years.

But even if EU leaders agree to the withdrawal agreement it could still get rejected by the UK parliament, with MPs from all parties threatening to derail it when it comes to the House of Commons.