'It's getting very TIGHT!' Donald Tusk says DEAL is on brink - Dec 14th is drawing NEAR
DONALD Tusk has claimed “he was ready” to move on to Brexit trade talks today, but the process stalled because the UK and Commission “asked for more time”.
The President of the European Council warned the timing for a deal is now “very tight” but said an agreement could still be reached ahead of a major EU summit on December 14.
In a tweet posted this afternoon, Mr Tusk said: “Met with PM @theresa_may. I was ready to present draft EU27 guidelines tomorrow for #Brexit talks on transition and future.
“But UK and Commission asked for more time. It is now getting very tight but agreement at December #EUCO is still possible.”
This comes after Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker revealed no deal had been struck today, despite a series of reports from inside the negotiations which suggested the two sides had reached a breakthrough.
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Speaking after a day of talks, the pair announced they had not yet reached a consensus on all of Britain’s divorce terms, and “a couple of issues” still need to be ironed out.
The Prime Minister is set to return to Brussels later this week in an attempt to reach a deal before the crucial EU summit later this month.
EU lawmakers will decide on December 14 whether “sufficient progress” has been made over key issues to allow the UK to begin discussing trade.
A series of reports earlier today raised the possibility of a bespoke Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, which could essentially keep the whole island of Ireland inside the single market and customs union.
Such a deal would solve the contentious issue on what to do with the Northern Irish border, but the reports were met with fury from Mrs May’s partners the DUP.
In a statement, the party’s leader Arlene Foster insisted she would not accept any “regulatory divergence” between Northern Ireland the the rest of the UK.
And speculation is rife that the DUP is responsible for the failure to reach a deal today.
Quoting a government source in a tweet this afternoon, Sky News presenter Beth Rigby said Mrs May’s Irish partners “were on board” but the language in a draft agreement drafted by the UK and EU “was too strong for them”.
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Speaking this afternoon, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar repeated his demands that there be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
He said his government had agreed to the draft agreement on the Irish border adding he was “surprised and disappointed” no deal had been struck today.
But although a bespoke deal for Northern Ireland - if approved by the DUP - would break the Brexit deadlock, it could cause Mrs May problems in other parts of the UK.
After the prospect of a special deal for Northern Ireland was reported earlier today, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones all called for their own agreements.
