EU impatience grows as Brexit impasse lingers

The European Union issued a stark assessment of the gridlocked Brexit talks Friday, saying there’s been “no substantial progress” on the key issue of the Irish border and advising EU nations to ramp up their preparations for the possibility that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal.

In conclusions at a Brussels summit, the 27 other EU nations told the U.K. that it must produce “realistic and workable proposals” for what kind of postBrexit relationship it wants.

“There is a great deal of work ahead and the most difficult tasks are still unresolved,” European Council chief Donald Tusk told reporters. “This is the last call to lay the cards on the table.”

Brexit was relegated to a brief discussion at an EU meeting whose main focus was to ease a European political crisis over migration.

With nine months until the U.K. officially leaves in March, frustrated EU officials say divisions within the British government over Brexit are blocking progress on a divorce deal.

“To be frank, the overwhelming feeling is that the British give the impression that they are negotiating more with the British than with the European Union,” said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.

In its statement, the EU called for “intensified efforts” to get a deal, and said member states, EU institutions and businesses should “step up their work on preparedness at all levels and for all outcomes.”

The bloc said it was concerned “that no substantial progress has yet been achieved on agreeing a backstop solution for Ireland/ Northern Ireland” — one of the thorniest issues in the divorce talks.

Britain has promised to maintain an invisible border, free of customs posts and other infrastructure, between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland — the U.K.’s only land frontier with an EU member.