The Latest: EU foreign chief: defense OK despite Brexit

The European Union foreign policy chief says that EU defense and security missions won't be overly hampered by the withdrawal of Britain from the bloc.

Even though Britain is a major pillar for NATO with its nuclear power and the biggest European defense budget of the alliance, its impact on EU operations is different.

Federica Mogherini said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers that "the U.K. contributes today only 3 percent of the civilian capabilities in our EU operations and missions and 5 percent to the military ones."

[...] the Spanish government has said it will ensure an open border for European workers that are key to both Gibraltar and the neighboring area in southern Spain.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin on Friday that the "the second step can hopefully happen soon" but appeared to dampen once again British hopes of parallel talks.

A top European Union official says Europe and Britain don't want to use each other's citizens as "hostages" in the Brexit talks, and also says there's no room for security issues to be used for "blackmail."

EU negotiators have said the transition may extend beyond the two-year timeframe outlined in the EU exit process because of the myriad details of trade and other aspects of the divorce.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says "there's lots of good will" among European Union partners since Britain triggered its divorce proceedings from the bloc.

In the draft guidelines obtained by the Associated Press, it says that first the EU and Britain must "settle the disentanglement" of Britain from the EU but added that "an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship could be identified during the second phase of the negotiations under Article 50."