The government of Boris Johnson is due to enter into\nintensive negotiations with the European Union on a possible Brexit deal ahead\nof the summit in Brussels at the end of next week, in a major boost to the\npossibility of reaching an agreement before the October 31 deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tunnel is the European language of the negotiations held\nby a small team of officials from the British and the European Union and is\ntaking place in complete secrecy, meaning that offers and concessions will not\nbe disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ambassadors of the remaining 27 EU member states were\ngiven the green light for Michel Barnier to open the new round of accelerated\ntalks on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the European Commission and Britain agreed to\nintensify discussions in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The EU’s position remains the same: there must be a\nlegally operative solution in the Withdrawal Agreement that avoids a hard\nborder on the island of Ireland, protects the all-island economy and the Good\nFriday (Belfast) Agreement in all its dimensions, and safeguards the integrity\nof the Single Market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he had told\nthe prime minister to present his proposals for Brexit by next Thursday. But he\nadded that “positive signals” are now coming out of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The development came after Johnson met with Irish Prime\nMinister Leo Varadkar on Thursday, who offered an upbeat assessment of the\nprospects for Britain to reach an agreement by next Thursday’s EU summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the details of Johnson’s recent proposals from the\nmeeting did not appear, Varadkar said: “I had a very good meeting today\nwith the prime minister and our teams together – very positive and very\npromising. I am now absolutely convinced that both Ireland and Britain want\nthere to be an agreement that’s in the interests of Ireland, the UK, and EU as\na whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson made no public comment after the meeting in an\napparent attempt to rebuild trust between the two leaders, which have worsened\nin recent weeks, and avoid blocking any breakthroughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British pound rose 2% against the dollar to $1.246 on\nnews of the news as the focus shifted to Brussels as US Secretary of State\nSteve Barclay arrived for discussions with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief\nnegotiator in Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some progress appears to have been made at the\nmeeting, the EU is still far from the British position with tariff proposals,\nwhich are by far the biggest sticking point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Brussels said it would not accept the proposal on the\ngrounds that it would require customs inspections on the island of Ireland,\nwhich it says would threaten an Irish peace settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Varadkar\u2019s remarks on Thursday suggested that Johnson might\nhave turned his red lines and could now be prepared to keep Northern Ireland in\nthe customs union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But any concession that would keep Northern Ireland in the\ncustoms union would cause a political storm within the Conservative Party, and\nit is unclear whether there will be a majority in parliament for such an\nagreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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