European Union leaders said the first phase of Brexit talks had made progress and that the bloc was ready to move on to the next phase. The second round of talks will mainly deal with the transition period and future trade ties with Britain, Reuters reported.

“EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase of #Brexit talks. Congratulations PM @theresa_may” President of the European Council,” European Union President Donald Tusk said on Twitter.

The second phase of negotiations will be much harder than the first, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday, according to Reuters. “I have extraordinary faith in the British Prime Minister... The second phase will be significantly harder than the first and the first was very difficult,” Juncker told reporters in Brussels, on the second day of an EU summit.

For nearly a year, negotiators from the United Kingdom government and the European Union have been discussing the exit of Britain from the bloc, The Guardian reported. Most of the negotiations have centred around the rights of millions of UK and European citizens who live in both territories, the report said.

On December 8, British Prime Minister Theresa May struck a last-minute deal with the European Union to move the Brexit talks forward. The European Union had set a deadline of December 10 for May to come up with terms for Brexit.