Now is the time for Brexit deal, May tells EU

brussels — British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that “now is the time” to make a Brexit deal happen, as she arrived for a summit with EU leaders hoping to unblock stalled divorce talks.

May will pitch her vision of how to save the talks on Britain’s exit from the union on March 29 to European leaders left frustrated by a breakdown on Sunday.

Hours before the summit, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was “still a chance” for an accord but issued a stern warning that Europe must be prepared for a no-deal Brexit.

Negotiations are at an impasse over the issue of a legal backstop to keep open the border between British Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, an EU member.

May faces a battle to find a solution that is acceptable to both the EU and hardline Brexit supporters in her own deeply-divided party, but she insisted that a deal is achievable and that “now is the time to make it happen”.

“I believe everybody around the table wants to get a deal. By working intensively and closely we can achieve that deal,” she told reporters as she arrived for the summit. —

brussels — British Prime Minister Theresa May says she thinks a Brexit deal can be sealed “over the next days and weeks” with hard work from the UK and the European Union.

Speaking before she addresses her 27 EU counterparts at a Brussels summit dinner, May said “most of the issues” on a withdrawal agreement have been resolved, though a gap remains on the issue of the Irish border.

She said “everybody around the table” wants an agreement for an orderly withdrawal, and “by working intensively over the next days and weeks I believe we can achieve a deal.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she still believes it’s possible to conclude a “good” agreement with Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union in March, but is stressing that Germany also is preparing for the risk of a no-deal departure.

Merkel addressed the German parliament on Wednesday ahead of an EU summit at which there appears to be little chance of a breakthrough on Brexit.

Merkel said: “The chance of achieving a good and sustainable withdrawal agreement in good time is still there, and it is really in the interest of our relations with Britain, in the interest of our economy ... and of course in the interest of people in our countries.” Ireland’s foreign minister

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker welcomes Prime Minister Theresa May upon her arrival at the European Commission in Brussels. —

says the European Union is open to extending Britain’s post-Brexit transition period so that a permanent solution can be found to the Irish border problem.

Under current proposals, Britain will remain inside EU rules from the time it leaves the bloc in March until December 2020, to give time for new trade relations to be set up. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had suggested “more time in the transition period to agree an alternative solution to a backstop.”