title: Germany: A lot of Brexit work remains even if talks enter phase two
text: BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany regards Friday s joint report on progress made in the negotiations on Britain s departure from the European Union as a step forward but believes much work remains even if the initial stage of Brexit talks is concluded, a spokesman said.  I think everyone understands that there is still much work for negotiators to do even if the European Council decides to move into phase two of Brexit negotiations,  German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference on Friday. He added that the second phase would be  highly complex . The leaders of the other 27 EU countries are due to decide next Friday whether to accept the European Commission s recommendation that sufficient progress has been made on exit talks to begin discussions on Britain s future relationship with the bloc. 