The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images EU Brexit calendar shows no guarantee talks will move to phase 2 EU leaders are still awaiting written assurance from the UK that it will honor financial commitments, as promised by Theresa May.

There is no guarantee that Brexit talks will move to phase 2.

That's the main takeaway from a detailed EU calendar for three weeks of internal deliberations on Brexit and a future relationship with the U.K. laid out by Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator. The calendar, as reported by POLITICO Brexit Pro Wednesday night, makes clear London should not count on talks proceeding automatically to the second phase by year's end.

It also has no date for a seventh official round of talks beyond the two-day negotiation period that begins Thursday. That raises the question of how progress in the talks will be made ahead the next European Council summit in December.

In discussing the calendar at a meeting of EU diplomats on Wednesday, Barnier sent a pointed message that while the EU27 is preparing for the next phase of talks, the U.K. must still clear the formidable hurdle of achieving "sufficient progress" on the main divorce issues of phase 1, and there were only a couple of weeks left to make that happen.

Chief among those issues is the so-called single financial settlement. EU leaders are eagerly awaiting written assurance from U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's government that Britain will live up to commitments it agreed on during more than 40 years as a member of the bloc.

The other phase 1 issues are citizens' rights and Ireland, though the EU has signalled that a finding of "sufficient progress" is closer on those points.

In the meeting with EU diplomats, Barnier sought to lower expectations for the sixth formal round of negotiations, which will take place in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

At the same time, the calendar put forward envisions an intense week of internal preparatory discussions beginning next Tuesday. These will cover the EU27's view of a potential transition period, and the framework of a future trade relationship.

The calendar calls for officials to discuss the transition and overall framework as well as trade issues on Tuesday, followed by economic and security cooperation on Thursday, and "horizontal and institutional issues" on Friday.

But those talks would be followed by a "stocktaking on negotiations" of phase 1 on Monday, November 20 — the same day EU ministers are scheduled to vote on the relocation of two agencies that must move out of London as a result of Brexit.

The vote, on new homes for the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, is a reminder that while the U.K.'s departure is all but certain, an agreement for orderly withdrawal is far from assured, and the so-called cliff edge continues to loom large.

According to the calendar, the stocktaking would be followed by another discussion on transition and the framework of a future relationship on November 22, and a week later a session clearly marked "possible" on the drafting of conclusions and guidelines for the December European Council summit, where leaders are due to make the decision on "sufficient progress."

Three more preparatory sessions would follow before the formal summit on December 14-15.

The calendar was also notable for what it did not list: any seventh formal round of talks. A weeklong gap at the end of November would seem to provide a window for one more round. But the sides have bickered in recent weeks over format, and absent a breakthrough later this week, there may be little left to say.