November deadline set before EU readies for Brexit talks collapse

THE EU will wait until November before kicking off full-blown preparations for a possible collapse of Brexit talks, diplomats say, reluctantly accepting that such a scenario would still require some managing.

EU envoys of the 27 countries remaining in the bloc after Brexit have discussed stepping up contingency planning should no agreement with Britain emerge on how to run the unprecedented process.

“We will wait for if and when the negotiations with Britain officially fail to kickstart more open work among the 27 on preparing for a no-deal,” a senior EU diplomat said. “We’ve given ourselves until November.”

The 27 EU leaders have agreed to meet on November 17 and 18 to sign off on any agreement with Britain, which on March 29 next year will become the first country to leave the bloc.

“There are areas where we need to have something in place on March 30 no matter what,” the diplomat said.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, confirmed yesterday that it was preparing for the possibility of Britain leaving the bloc without a divorce deal or an outline of their future relations, but reiterated it was working to conclude a treaty.

“The EU continues to work for an orderly Brexit and an ambitious future partnership with the UK that should include a close economic relationship,” the Commission’s Michel Barnier said.

Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, was to meet the head of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, yesterday. Corbyn has said Labour would vote against a Brexit deal based on Prime Minister Theresa May’s current proposals.

That has added to EU worries that, even if they secure a deal with May, it could be rejected in the British parliament, where both Labour and some in May’s deeply divided Conservative Party could vote against it.

The future customs border is the key point of contention in the negotiations as the sides differ deeply over how to avoid installing border checks between EU state Ireland and Britain’s province of Northern Ireland after Brexit. Should the EU and Britain agree on the divorce deal and it is ratified by both the British and the EU parliaments, Britain would get a status-quo adaptation period until the end of 2020. That would delay most of the real effects of Brexit.