The European Union has agreed a financial settlement with Britain, a senior EU official has told Reuters, under which London has committed to paying a set share of EU budgets after Britain has left the bloc.
Following reports of British offers in recent days, EU negotiators have insisted publicly that work is continuing on the financial deal, as both sides also push to reach accords on two other key divorce conditions before a crunch meeting on Monday.
"The official offer has not been submitted, but unofficially it has been agreed to such an extent that if no one decides to stage a last-minute complete turnaround, everything will be OK," the official said on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Britain's Department for Exiting the European Union was not immediately available for comment.
Overall, the EU side was "optimistic" that agreement could be reached on the conditions to allow EU leaders to agree during a December 14-15 summit to open talks on post-Brexit relations.
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Britain has committed to meeting an agreed share of the vast bulk of the future budget items which the EU asked for, the official said, adding: "It is a deal on what percentage share Britain will cover and on what items."
Among key budget lines that Britain has committed to was covering a share of disbursements from the EU budget in years beyond the current seven-year EU budget ending in 2020.
"We have agreed a certain formula how to calculate that share. So we take each line in the budget and apply the share to it," the official said.
"All in all, they are ready to pay a suitable, fair price for moving on to the second phase. This is what they want," the official said of British Prime Minster Theresa May's push to convince fellow EU leaders to open talks on a transition and future trade pact.
"They want as soon as possible to solve the transition period issues, because they are afraid companies will start moving," he added, saying that broadly speaking London was going to be "paying all the EU wanted".
