Boris Johnson urges EU to ‘thrash out’ Brexit deal as weekend deadline looms
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Boris Johnson has urged the EU to “thrash this thing out” with both sides admitting there is just a handful of days left to break the Brexit impasse and secure a deal.
Last week the UK government published its proposal – initially described as a “final offer” – which has met with criticism from Brussels, although it was popular with Westminster kingmakers the DUP and the European Research Group.
Speaking to reporters today Johnson said: “What we’re saying to our friends is: this is a very fair, generous and reasonable offer we’ve made.
“We haven’t really heard the detail from them about what they think the problems are. It’s time for us to get together and really thrash this thing out.”
The UK negotiating team, led by David Frost, met officials from the Commission’s Taskforce 50 today for further discussions on the UK’s new proposals, a government spokesperson said, and those talks will carry on into Tuesday.
French President Emmanual Macron has appeared to set a deadline of this Friday to find a solution, with a view to finalising the deal at the European Council.
Macron told Johnson that talks would be evaluated “at the end of the week” to determine “whether a deal is possible that respects European Union principles”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman declined to comment on a specific deadline.
However City A.M. understands that Downing Street privately accepts that progress must be made by the weekend if a deal can be agreed in time. One senior Downing Street source suggested that could be as late as Monday (14 October).
But the source warned that Brussels was holding out for something that wasn’t going to come.
A second source suggested the extent to which Brexit appears on the Council agenda, due to be published early next week, would give an indication of whether a deal is still on the cards.
As part of ongoing efforts Johnson has spoken to several EU leaders by phone, including German Chancellor Angela Merkal, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Macron, as well as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and head of the European Council Donald Tusk.
He has also spoken to the respective leaders of Sweden, Denmark and Poland today.
There are no plans for Johnson to meet any European leaders face-to-face this week, despite hopes that his forceful personality could help grease the wheels. The UK is understood to be seeking a sit down with Varadkar, to try and break the deadlock in Dublin, which is likely to then encourage other EU27 member states to enter talks.
This morning the Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted there were no plans for the UK to boycott the European Council if talks with the EU27 had not reached a point at which a deal could be struck.
However, sources have previously indicated that this is a possibility.
Instead the spokesman urged member states to “engage with the offer we have made” in the proposals published last week, which he described as “generous”.
He added: “If a deal is to be possible, the EU must match the compromises the UK has made. The Prime Minister has been very clear about the time pressures we are under.
“We are ready to have a discussion at pace, but the EU needs to engage fully with the proposals we have put forward.”
The UK’s sherpa David Frost is in Brussels again today, for technical talks with his counterparts. The EU is still refusing to upgrade those talks to negotiations, however.
Main image: Getty