EU sees no Brexit breakthrough before the weekend - sources
BRUSSELS - Talks with Britain on amending its divorce deal with the European Union have made no progress and no solution is in sight, EU officials said on Wednesday, days before British lawmakers must vote on the plan to avoid a chaotic Brexit.
Talks by lower-ranking officials were expected to continue on Wednesday but there was no clear schedule yet for further negotiations between Cox and the EU’s Michel Barnier. At the heart of the deadlock is the Irish “backstop”, an insurance policy the EU wants to ensure no return to a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit.
“It’s unlikely there would be a deal before the weekend,” an EU official said. “We are preparing for a working weekend.”Britain is currently set to depart the EU on March 29 under a timetable put into legislation by May’s government in 2017. May last week opened the way to a short extension of the Article 50 period and the EU sees a delay until the end of June as relatively easy.
“If the deal goes through , then everything is fine, although the Brits may request a short, truly technical extension to complete their own legislative process,” a second EU official said.“But if parliament rejects her deal for a second time, a short extension would not make much sense. A longer extension would be needed, six months, nine months, a year, two years.”
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