Tusk tempers optimism on Brexit deal, says time is nearly up though agreement is still possible

[snoop1130]

Tusk tempers optimism on Brexit deal, says time is nearly up though agreement is still possible

By Gabriela Baczynska, John Chalmers

 

Britain's Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay poses with European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier ahead of a meeting at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 11, 2019. Francisco Seco/Pool via REUTERS

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday the latest round of Brexit talks carried no guarantee of success and time was nearly up for a deal to be reached by Oct.31, tempering a burst of optimism after the British and Irish prime ministers met.

 

“I have received promising signals from the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar) that a deal is still possible. Technical talks are taking place in Brussels as we speak,” Tusk said in the Cypriot capital Nicosia.

 

“Of course, there is no guarantee of success and the time is practically up. But even the slightest chance must be used.”

 

Varadkar and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unexpectedly said they had found a pathway to a possible deal in a meeting in northern England on Thursday. The chief Brexit negotiators of the European Union and Britain then met on Friday morning in Brussels.

 

The United Kingdom is due to leave the world’s biggest trading bloc on Oct. 31 and despite the flurry of activity, it remains unclear on what terms it will leave or indeed whether it will leave at all.

 

In a tumultuous week, Brexit negotiations have shifted wildly, starting with a public row between London and Brussels.

 

Tusk said he had previously told Johnson that unless a workable solution came from London by Friday Oct. 11, he would announce that a deal was all but impossible at a summit of all EU leaders next Thursday and Friday.

 

Varadkar told Irish reporters after his meeting with Johnson: “I think it is possible for us to come to an agreement, to have a treaty agreed, to allow the UK to leave the EU in an orderly fashion and to have that done by the end of October.”

 

In a joint statement, the two leaders said they could “see a pathway to a possible deal”, though officials on both sides were silent about what compromises - if any - had been made to break the Brexit deadlock over Ireland’s border.

 

To get a deal done, Johnson must tame the complexities of the Irish border before getting the approval of Europe’s biggest powers - and then sell any deal to the British parliament, which he suspended unlawfully last month and where he has no majority.

 

Johnson, the face of the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, made no further comment on the meeting with Varadkar.

 

IRELAND

 

Ireland is crucial if a deal is to be done to avert a potentially disorderly Brexit that would hurt global growth, roil financial markets and could even split the United Kingdom.

 

Dublin will have to consent to any solution to the hardest Brexit riddle of all: how to prevent the British province of Northern Ireland becoming a backdoor into the EU’s markets without having controls at the border.

 

The Irish border has been largely invisible since British army checkpoints were taken down after a 1998 peace deal largely ended the violence between members of the region’s pro-British majority and an Irish nationalist minority.

 

Johnson last week proposed an all-island regulatory zone to cover all goods. Northern Ireland would leave the EU’s customs area along with the rest of the United Kingdom - and the province’s institutions would be able to opt to exit the regulatory zone - a step too far for Ireland and the EU.

 

It was unclear what Johnson agreed with Varadkar.

 

Britain’s Northern Ireland minister said that no single party in Northern Ireland would be given a veto in any Brexit deal, but that an agreement was now “a distinct possibility”.

 

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which supports Johnson’s minority government, would have an effective veto on post-Brexit customs checks on the Irish border under proposals put forward by Johnson last week.

 

Education minister Gavin Williamson restated the government’s line that Britain would leave the EU on Oct. 31, come what may, telling ITV: “We need to see the European Union shift.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-11

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[nobodysfriend]

Will the EU accept the now altered conditions ...? Will the bill pass british parliament ... ? And all that in just a few days left ...? I doubt it , what do you think ...?

Deal or no deal , that is the question ... I would bet on no deal , but I never was lucky in gambling ...

[RichardColeman]

Communist Corbyn, The liberal undemocratic party and the nutty Scottish woman would still vote against it even if they got everything they wanted

[Thingamabob]

Neither the EU nor the UK's Remain parliament will approve anything. Only one way out, no deal.

[Baerboxer]

I quite like Tusk. I think he's more genuine than most of the other players in this <deleted> game.

 

But, he's marginalized now. Macron doesn't let him know what's going on and Merkel, soon to be retired, has lost power to Macron.

 

 

[JonnyF]

If ever I have doubts about leaving The EU I listen to Tusk lisp his way through another hate filled anti uk speech, with his little face all scrunched up In anger and once again I long for the day we are free from these unelected bureaucrats ????.

[tebee]

2 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Neither the EU nor the UK's Remain parliament will approve anything. Only one way out, no deal.

You seem to be forgetting that that parliament are the people who decide what we will do, leave or not.

[dunroaming]

6 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Will the EU accept the now altered conditions ...? Will the bill pass british parliament ... ? And all that in just a few days left ...? I doubt it , what do you think ...?

Deal or no deal , that is the question ... I would bet on no deal , but I never was lucky in gambling ...

I think the question is, who is capitulating the most?  Johnson is very keen to enter the tunnel where the "negotiating" will be very much behind closed doors.  Interesting to see what comes from this.  Maybe it is a ploy to run it to the line by Boris or maybe he going to back down and become May mark two?

[nauseus]

Tusk...say it with a hiss.

[dunroaming]

7 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Communist Corbyn, The liberal undemocratic party and the nutty Scottish woman would still vote against it even if they got everything they wanted

Everything they wanted?  That will be to remain then but you don't think they would vote for that?

 

I think just about everyone is looking for a way out of this chaos now and I suspect parliament would compromise to get something passed unless it is completely unworkable or economic suicide.  Johnson is desperate to remain PM and that means winning the next GE, so he is gambling for his political life'

[beautifulthailand99]

4 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Neither the EU nor the UK's Remain parliament will approve anything. Only one way out, no deal.

Good to have a dream even if in reality it is a nightmare. 

[beautifulthailand99]

59 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Tusk...say it with a hiss.

Been to a Brexit Party Panto revival meeting recently ?

[beautifulthailand99]

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

I think the question is, who is capitulating the most?  Johnson is very keen to enter the tunnel where the "negotiating" will be very much behind closed doors.  Interesting to see what comes from this.  Maybe it is a ploy to run it to the line by Boris or maybe he going to back down and become May mark two?

Could I just say I voted exactly for this scenario in 1815 or whenever it was.....

[puipuitom]

7 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Communist Corbyn, The liberal undemocratic party and the nutty Scottish woman would still vote against it even if they got everything they wanted

In which the LibDem are more undemocratic than Labour, where the labour unions are the masters, or the Conservatives, whre a limited peers decide what will happen ?

"I detest what you say, but am willign to give my life for your right to say", once a British statesman said.Not much left of that attitude. Time to kick out the British of the EU.

[beautifulthailand99]

All the comments sections of the Telegraph Brexit articles are infested with venomous sell-out traitors comments except for a few Guardianistas trolling them. What has happened to our Hard-Brexit No Dealers where are they ?

 

Nigel Farage

@Nigel_Farage

I don't know what @BorisJohnson  has given away, but he sounds very defensive. Let us hope that this is not a surrender.

[dunroaming]

3 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Could I just say I voted exactly for this scenario in 1815 or whenever it was.....

Really? Surely you voted for a straightforward, easy to deliver result?  I think most of us did, whichever side we were on.  This whole Brexit exercise has been a total farce and made us look like complete idiots.  And even today, years after the 1815 vote we are still clueless to where we are heading.  Being lead by incompetents doesn't help. 

[beautifulthailand99]

46 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Really? Surely you voted for a straightforward, easy to deliver result?  I think most of us did, whichever side we were on.  This whole Brexit exercise has been a total farce and made us look like complete idiots.  And even today, years after the 1815 vote we are still clueless to where we are heading.  Being lead by incompetents doesn't help. 

I was joking but are you ? 1815 was also a joke ! ????????