May faces EU leaders as Brexit talks stall

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to address EU counterparts in Brussels on Wednesday, but there is little hope on either side of a quick breakthrough after Brexit talks stalled over the weekend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed a hardening tone among the 27 other governments, whose leaders will gather over dinner after a presentation by May to discuss stepping up preparations for Britain dropping out of the EU with no deal in March.

All member states, she said before flying to the summit, must prepare for all outcomes: “That includes the possibility that Britain leaves the EU without a deal.”

With wrangling over how to keep Northern Ireland’s land border with the EU open after Britain leaves the EU’s customs and regulatory space, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it is unlikely the 27 leaders would set a date for a special summit to seal a deal – as was the hope before talks stalled.

Summit chairman Donald Tusk called on May to come to Brussels with “creative” new ideas to unblock the process, but British officials have given little indication she has much new to say as she battles deep opposition among her own allies to the kind of agreement that Brussels says is pretty much its final offer.

May told Parliament she wants any treaty that includes the Irish border issue linked to a separate declaration the two sides intend to issue on their intentions for a close EU-UK trade pact to be negotiated after Brexit.

The EU agrees a close customs and regulatory relationship could avert the kind of border disruption that could revive sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland, but they still want a “backstop” guarantee that if that is not in place, then the EU would keep the province in a special economic zone.

May and her Northern Irish allies reject that as posing a risk of breaking up the UK.

EU diplomats told Reuters on Monday that negotiator Michel Barnier offered to help defuse the issue by extending a status-quo transition period for Britain by an extra year to the end of 2021 to give time for a trade deal that would avert the need to trigger a backstop for Northern Ireland.