BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain came to Brussels to urge faster movement on Brexit talks, was politely heard, and was told on Friday to go away and come up with more money before the rest of the European Union agrees to negotiate the elements of a post-divorce relationship.

All this had been expected for weeks now. But the other leaders did throw a lifeline of sorts to the beleaguered Mrs. May by agreeing to begin their own deliberations on the next stage of the talks, which will concern Britain’s trading relationship with the bloc after it ceases to be a member in 2019, even before the money issue is settled.

With negotiations stalled on this critical matter, and with reports of deep fissures in Mrs. May’s cabinet, European Union leaders have grown increasingly concerned about the prime minister’s reliability as a negotiating partner. A constant drumbeat of negative news serves only to further undermine her, which they see as counterproductive.

But that slight change in emphasis was mostly a matter of atmosphere. For real progress to be made, the other 27 members of the European Union must first determine that “sufficient progress” has been made on the divorce bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border, which many had hoped would happen here now.