Portugal's Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva | Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images | Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images Portugal’s foreign minister: No prospect of ‘sufficient progress’ in Brexit talks Augusto Santos Silva says he is concerned about the ‘withdrawal of the Anglo-Saxon world.’

LISBON — Portugal is seeking an economic relationship with the U.K. post Brexit that is as “dense and rich” as it is now, the country’s foreign minister said, but he sees no prospect of the negotiations moving on to discussing those issues later this month.

“The atmosphere is good, but we still don’t have any concrete progress in the negotiations,” Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva told POLITICO.

EU leaders will decide at a European Council summit in Brussels later this month whether the Brexit negotiations have made “sufficient progress” in a first phase focused on divorce issues. Only then can discussions move on to broader talks on the U.K.'s economic and political relationship with the EU once it leaves the bloc.

Although declaring himself an optimist in the long term, Santos Silva says even European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s assertion last week that only a “miracle” could unblock the talks before the summit was too hopeful.

"I don’t have a religious approach to such matters, and I don’t think we can have any concrete results before the Council [summit]," Santos Silva joked during an interview at the foreign ministry in Lisbon.

In the current phase of negotiations, Portugal’s main goal is securing the rights of European citizens living in the U.K.

Instead, he expressed hope that the talks could move to the next phase when EU leaders meet again in December.

Santos Silva praised last month’s speech by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May in Florence as a step forward, but said contrary positions put forward by members of her Cabinet left the Europeans guessing as to Britain’s real position.

“The Cabinet in London does not appear as a united body in what relates to Brexit,” said Santos Silva.

Portugal’s top diplomat avoided naming names, but other European officials have pointed to divisions within the Cabinet between hard-liners such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and those seeking a more conciliatory approach like Philip Hammond, the chancellor.

“In my government we debate, sometimes it’s very heated, but finally we make a synthesis, the PM takes a position and that is the position of the government. I’m not seeing this from the British, not a position which we can deal with,” Santos Silva said.

Once the talks eventually move to phase two, Portugal has clear goals, he said. “These three priorities are key for Portugal: citizens' rights; cooperation in terms of defense and security, fight against terrorism and so on; and third, a future economic relationship as close as it can be.”

Portugal views itself as both a European and an Atlanticist country, strongly attached to NATO as well as a staunch supporter of European integration. In an apparent reference to signs of isolationism from the Trump administration in the United States, as well as Brexit, Santos Silva said he was concerned about “this kind of retreat, or withdrawal of the Anglo-Saxon world.”

“We belong to Europe, but our horizon is also Latin America and Africa, and we feel good in this geopolitical position. For us, the relationship with the Atlantic is as important as the relationship with the center of Europe,” he said.

Britain’s impending departure from the EU makes it imperative to strengthen cooperation between the EU and NATO and to maintain close defense ties with the U.K, Santos Silva said. “Britain is absolutely vital for European defense,” he added.

In the current phase of negotiations, Portugal’s main goal is securing the rights of European citizens living in the U.K. According to official British figures, there are 213,000 Portuguese citizens living in the U.K, making them the sixth-largest foreign community.

Lisbon wants a deal that would grant residence rights with a minimum of bureaucracy for EU citizens already in the country; a clear cut-off date for new arrivals to fall under post-Brexit arrangements, preferably the departure date of March 2019; protection for expats’ family members; and clarity on where EU citizens can seek legal recourse if Britain no longer accepts the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The Lisbon government has repeatedly sought to reassure the 60,000 British migrants who live at least part of the year in Portugal that their rights will be respected.

Britain is Portugal’s fourth-largest export market, representing about 7 percent of sales. Although that is way behind the country’s trade with Spain, France and Germany — who together take half of Portugal’s exports — Santos Silva wants to maintain the economic relationship with the U.K.

“We have to build up in the future an economic relationship as dense and rich as it currently is between Britain and the EU,” he said.

Despite the deep economic, political and historical ties between London and Lisbon — Portugal and England are the world’s oldest allies, dating back to the 1386 Treaty of Windsor — Santos Silva does not see a special mediating role for his country in the Brexit talks. “There is only one negotiator, one negotiating team and one negotiating table between the 27 and Britain, and Portugal fully respects this,” he said.