Yahoo Finance ‘No progress’ on Irish border in Brexit talks, says EU
The EU has given a frank assessment of the state of play over the biggest issue in Brexit talks as Theresa May prepares to head to Brussels for the European Council summit.
On the eve of the summit, a senior EU official has warned that “no progress” has been made towards an agreement on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland since the last meeting in March.
UK and EU negotiators have met on 11 occasions in the last three months but resolved just a handful of the issues in the draft Withdrawal Agreement that must be fully signed-off before October in order to avoid a ‘no deal’ Brexit.
“I’m afraid that when it comes to key elements – there is the question of the Irish backstop – frankly speaking there is no progress and that is a reason to express concern,” the official told reports.
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That is notably stronger language than that used in the draft conclusions for the summit, which “express concern” that “no substantial progress has yet been achieved.”
The EU official added: “We would also encourage our colleagues in the UK to speed up their work on their vision of the future framework of the EU-UK relationship.”
Theresa May will set out new plans for that relationship when she addresses a working dinner of EU leaders attending the summit tomorrow evening.
The Prime Minister’s speech was a late addition to the agenda, being agreed only during a pre-summit meeting with European Council president Donald Tusk in Downing Street on Monday.
Asked whether Tusk had left that meeting more confident about the likelihood of completing a Brexit deal, the EU official paused before replying: “I don’t think he’s less optimistic either.”
“What I can say at this stage is that it is to a large extent in the hands of the UK government how these negotiations are going to progress,” they added.
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“Our job is to say what are our concerns. At this stage our most serious concern is the issue of the backstop with Ireland.”
The lack of progress on key Brexit issues has seen it relegated to the bottom of the agenda in place of discussion on trade with the US and migration.
There will be no debate after the Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow evening and the state of play in Brexit talks won’ be discussed until Friday morning.
