PM has one week to improve Brexit offer

BRUSSELS: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union have given themselves a week to agree on a Brexit plan. Otherwise, the UK will be heading for either a no-deal exit or another humiliating postponement of its departure from the EU.

While support is building for Mr Johnson’s proposals at home, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a private meeting of European senior diplomats that the latest British blueprint for post-Brexit arrangements along the border with Ireland falls far short of his conditions for a deal, three EU officials said.

After more than three years of brinkmanship and bickering, Mr Johnson finds himself in the opposite position to his predecessor — but one no less risky to his leadership. Theresa May lost her job because she struck an agreement with the EU and couldn’t get it through Parliament. Mr Johnson’s challenge is to reach a compromise with Brussels without losing his new converts at home.

The EU will make a decision in a week about whether the two sides are closing in on a deal, having demanded the British government come up with a better offer. In a sign of the determination to thrash out an agreement, David Frost, Mr Johnson’s envoy to the EU, immediately resumed talks in Brussels and continued yesterday. Mr Johnson himself may hold meetings in several European capitals over the weekend, officials said.

After politely welcoming the proposals on Wednesday, the main European institutions broke cover to criticise the plans. European Council President Donald Tusk, who spoke by phone to Mr Johnson and Irish President Leo Varadkar, said he was “unconvinced” by the proposals. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described them as “problematic”, while the European Parliament, which has a veto over the final deal, said it had “grave concerns”.

A spokeswoman for the British government said it doesn’t accept the downbeat assessment from European leaders and that progress has been made. After two missed Brexit deadlines already this year, the clock is ticking louder than ever. It’s now impossible to see a deal being done in time unless Mr Johnson makes fresh proposals, two EU officials said. Mr Barnier told diplomats Mr Johnson’s response needed to be urgent and sustainable.

Mr Johnson’s Brexit plan can’t be negotiated by Oct 31, Norbert Roettgen, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament said in a tweet. “If UK is serious about this, it must seek extension,” he said.