HIGHLIGHTS-EU tells Britain: "Keep calm and negotiate"

(Adds more quotes from Barnier)

BRUSSELS, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 6 (Reuters) - Michel Barnier, chief Brexit negotiator for the European Union's executive arm, gave his first news conference on Tuesday after two months in office.

Below are his comments made in English and French to reporters in Brussels.

LESS THAN 18 MONTHS

"We are entering uncharted waters, the work will be legally complex and politically sensitive."

"I am sure that when the EU receives a notification from the UK it will be ready."

"Time (Frankfurt: A11312 - news) will be short. It's clear that the period of actual negotiations will be shorter than two years."

"All in all there will be less than 18 months to negotiate."

"Time is short. Should UK notify the European Council by the end of March 2017, as Prime Minister Theresa May said she would, it is safe to say negotiations could start a few weeks later and an Article 50 agreement reached by October 2018."

"Third country can never have the same rights and benefits since they are not subject to the same obligations."

NO CHERRY PICKING

"Negotiations will not start before notification."

"The single market and its four freedoms are indivisible. Cherry picking is not an option."

"The sooner the better. We all have common interest in not prolonging this state of lack of certainty."

"It is much better to show solidarity than to stand alone."

WE ARE READY

"We are ready. Keep calm and negotiate."

"Article 50 is very clear, it sets out that from when we receive the notification, the sooner the better, we have two years to reach an agreement together... and so Article 50 negotiations should be concluded by March 2019."

"October 2018 is to leave five or six months for the European Council, the European Parliament and the UK parliament to ratify it."

"We are negotiating UK withdrawal from the EU whilst taking into account the future shape of relations."

"We want a clear agreement, we want to reach this agreement in the limited time we have available, we want it to take on board our point of view, the interests of the 27 as defined by the European Council, and something that preserves the unity of the 27. I know what Brexit is, I don't know what hard or soft Brexit are."

NEW PARTNERSHIP

"Article 50 is very clear... It sets out that as soon as we receive the notification, the earlier the better, we have two years to reach an agreement together."

"As we hope from Teresa May herself, it is in March at the latest we should receive this notification and so the Article 50 negotiations should be concluded by March 2019."

"All the ratification procedures should be finished by then. That's why I said that the approval needs to be completed by October 2018 to still leave five or six months for the European Council, the European Parliament and the UK to ratify the agreement."

"This new partnership it's up to the UK to tell us what they have in mind and then it's up to us, the 27, to respond to that and say what we are prepared to conceive of for our common future with the UK."

"Until we do not know what the intentions are and requests of the UK are, what they would like and what they're prepared to accept for this new partnership, it's going to be difficult to talk about the transitional period."

"We need to hear what the UK's intentions are and then the 27 will react to that."

"It's quite probable that a future agreement will be of a different legal nature. It will have to be signed with a third country and only with a third country. Legally these things can't be done together at the same time."

"You can't do everything in 15 to 18 months of negotiations, but we are going to have to take things step by step in the right order."

NORWAY SCENARIO

"There would be some point and usefulness of a transitional period if it is the path toward future agreement on this new partnership. We need to know first of all what the perspective would be for a new partnership and only then would we be able to decide of the usefulness of such a transition period."

"For the case of Norway for instance, there is access to the single market, but this is accompanied by predetermined, specific contributions to the EU budget. That's one model that already exists and that is really one of the closest models to EU that there is without being a member."

IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

"The UK's decision to leave the European Union will have consequences. In particular, what are the EU's external borders today."

"We will throughout these negotiations with the UK and of course with Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) do our utmost to find a way to preserve the success of the Good Friday process and retain the dialogue there." (Compiled by Gabriela Baczynska and Marilyn Haigh; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)