Brexit deal 'not possible' this week, warn EU ministers

A Brexit deal will not be reached at this week’s European Council summit, senior EU politicians have warned after a dramatic breakdown in talks over the Irish border ‘backstop.’

Hopes were high last week that new British ‘backstop’ proposals were about to break the months-long impasse in negotiations in time to sign a deal in Brussels on Wednesday.

They were dashed after a meeting between Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier on Sunday broke-up without agreement.

Negotiations have now been suspended until after this week’s summit.

UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted talks were in a “difficult period” but said: “There was always going to be a moment like this but we should remember that a huge amount of progress has been made.”

Theresa May will address the other 27 EU heads of state on Wednesday evening in a last-ditch bit to win concessions that pave the way for a deal that would be palatable to the UK parliament.

But that will be too little, too late to conclude a deal this week, according to ministers attending the EU’s foreign affairs council in Luxembourg on Monday.

Spanish foreign ministers Josep Borell said: “Three or four days ago, people believed that it was going to be possible – an agreement – this week. Now it seems that it will not be possible.”

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said: “There was a real effort over the last 10 days by the two negotiating teams to intensify engagement so that they could have a set of recommendations for political leaders this week. That hasn’t proven possible.”

Hunt also played down expectations of reaching a deal this week, saying: “I think we can get there. Whether or not we do this week, who knows?”

This week’s European Council summit was long considered the deadline for a deal, although the timetable has been allowed to slip more recently.

Council president Donald Tusk called it the “moment of truth” for Brexit talks and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he wanted to see “decisive progress” towards a deal this week.

EU leaders now face a climbdown on those remarks by giving the go ahead to an emergency summit in November without having achieved the progress they wanted. EU foreign ministers gave a strong indication on Monday that would be the outcome of this week’s summit and tried to remain positive about the outcome of talks.

Borell said: “We still have one month … For sure they are not going to have a miraculous solution on Wednesday. We have to wait.”

Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak said: “Ok, we hoped to have had a deal last night. It’s not the case but there is no reason to panic. There is still time.”

And Coveney said: “We want to see an outcome here that settles nerves that allows us to move ahead with a managed, sensible Brexit. I still think it’s possible to do that but clearly, it’s going to take a bit more time than many people had hoped.”