Juncker raises hope of breakthrough
CHANCES of a Brexit breakthrough this month are low, but a glimmer of hope for Boris Johnson has emerged from Jean-Claude Juncker’s inner circle.
The outgoing European Commission President has told his closest aides that cutting an 11th-hour deal with Britain would cement his reputation as the ‘ultimate political fixer’.
Mr Juncker is due to step down on October 31, the day Britain is scheduled to leave the EU, meaning any delay – or a No Deal Brexit – would blight his legacy. EU sources say the outspoken Eurocrat made the remarks at a meeting of his most senior advisers last week.
However, they came before the EU widely panned Boris Johnson’s compromise offer, with hopes fading in London of a deal being cut before a possible General Election.
A source close to Guy Verhofstadt, the head of the EU’s Brexit Steering Group, said flatly last night: ‘Boris Johnson’s proposal does not have a chance. He seems to be gunning for no deal. Nothing is moving at all this weekend’.
A No10 source added: ‘Even if Juncker wanted to do a deal, it is slipping out of his control. Appointing Michel Barnier, France’s most unreasonable Frenchman, to lead the negotiations is coming home to roost.’
And yesterday, Britain’s former EU Commissioner Lord Hill said that the major roadblock to a deal was Dublin and compromise before the end of the month was a ‘stretch’. The Brussels expert told the BBC: ‘I spoke to an EU ambassador who said: “We don’t understand what the backstop is, we don’t care about the backstop, we would be perfectly happy for the Irish to drop it, but so long as they want it, we’re with the Irish,” and that’s the conundrum.’
On Friday, No 10 enforcer Dominic Cummings warned colleagues that if Europe shows no signs of compromise next week, then ‘that’s it, we’re off’.