Jean-claude Juncker doubts chances of striking Brexit deal

Jean- Claude Juncker has thrown doubt on the possibility of the EU striking a Brexit deal with the UK, warning that time is tight for an agreement as Boris Johnson has yet to spell out his demands on the Irish backstop.

Speaking to MEPS in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the president of the European commission said he was“not sure we will get there”with a final agreement. “Very little time is remaining.”

The warning came after Mr Juncker and Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, had lunch with Mr Johnson in Luxembourg on Monday — a meeting in which the UK prime minister failed to provide any ideas on how the government wanted to replace an Irish backstop.

“I can’t look you in the eyes and say progress has been achieved,” said Mr Juncker, who described the lunch as “friendly, constructive, and in part positive”.

“I have no sentimental attachment to the backstop. That is why I called on the British prime minister to come forward with concrete proposals, operational and in writing on all alternatives that would allow us to reach these objectives,” said Mr Juncker, who was heckled by Brexit Party MEPS in the chamber.

The UK is due to leave the bloc on October 31. It has demanded the full removal of a backstop arrangement that would keep the UK inside the customs union and aligned to EU rules to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland in the absence of a free trade agreement.

Mr Barnier, also speaking at the debate, said the EU was still waiting for “a legally operative solution in the withdrawal agreement that responds to each one of the problems” of the Irish border.

So far the UK has suggested allowing Northern Ireland to stick to EU rules on food and livestock. But the EU has warned this would not prevent a hard border in the absence of customs arrangements for all other types of goods.

Britain is also demanding the freedom to diverge from EU regulations on social and environmental standards after Brexit. Mr Barnier warned this demand would reduce the ambition of any future trade agreement.

EU officials have grown increasingly pessimistic about the chances of securing a deal with the government and the probability it can pass through a divided House of Commons.

Mr Juncker told his college of commissioners on Tuesday that it was only this week that Mr Johnson seemed to “understand the meaning of the single market” and the costs of leaving it for Northern Ireland, according to an official.

“We should not spend time pretending to negotiate,” said Mr Barnier.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit chief, said the backstop or any form of safety net would be demanded by MEPS to avoid violence returning to the Irish border.