BREXIT ACCORD GETTING CLOSER, NO DEAL NOT AN OPTION, SAYS EU

VIENNA: The European Union will reach a Brexit deal with Britain in November if it does not do so this month, European Commission president Jean-claude Juncker said in an interview published by Austrian newspapers on Saturday.

Juncker said that the potential for a rapprochement between the two sides had grown in the last few days, echoing what diplomatic sources have told Reuters.

“We are not there yet. But our will to reach an understanding with the British government is unbroken,” he was quoted as saying by Der Standard and Kurier and Der Falter. “We have to get away from this no-deal scenario. It wouldn’t be good for Britain or for the rest of the (European) Union,”

“My assumption is that we will reach an accord which will achieve the conditions of the withdrawal treaty,” Juncker said, adding that it was not possible to predict whether there will be a conclusion to the Brexit negotiations in October.

“If not, then we will do it in November.”

EU Brexit negotiators believe a divorce deal with Britain is “very close”, diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a sign a compromise on the most contentious issue - the future Irish border - might be in the making, although details were scarce.

On Friday, EU Brexit negotiators told ambassadors of the 27 states remaining in the bloc that there was no breakthrough on the Irish issue and much would depend on what their British counterparts bring to Brussels next week.