British Brexit minister Stephen Barclay and chief European Union negotiator Michel Barnier are to hold a working breakfast on Friday.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Britain and Europe’s top Brexit negotiators sit down together Friday to test what British and Irish leaders say might be a “pathway” to a deal.
Technical talks on an agreement to govern Britain’s European Union (EU) divorce are stalled, just days before what had been billed as a last chance European summit.
Now, British Brexit minister Stephen Barclay and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier are to hold a working breakfast on Friday.
There have been many false dawns in the talks, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar are holding out hope.
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After meeting in northwest England on Thursday, Johnson and Varadkar said they had “agreed that they could see a pathway to a possible deal.”
Speaking to reporters, Varadkar later said the meeting was “very positive,” suggesting it would be a “short pathway, rather than a long one.”
If the path is to lead to a deal before Britain crashes out of the European Union on 31 October, it had better be a short one.
The next European Council summit for Johnson, Varadkar and their colleagues from the other EU capitals starts on 17 October next week.
And, in normal circumstances, European diplomats would want draft texts of any agreements to be prepared before close of business on Friday.
Even if, as UK officials hope, Brussels shows flexibility on the timeline, they have yet to enter the “diplomatic tunnel” of final text negotiations.
After his “stock taking” breakfast with Barclay, Barnier will brief ambassadors from the other EU members on the state of play.
“Barnier will have to say whether we can or can’t start negotiating a text,” a European source told AFP.
“After that, it’s a long road. It’s wacky to think we’d have a treaty text before the 17 and 18 October summit.”
But Varadkar appears to be looking slightly further forward, implying that he and Johnson are now aiming for a deal in the next three weeks.
“I think it’s possible for us to come to an agreement, to have a treaty agreed… by the end of October,” he said.
