Brexit talks may produce agreement any day now

BRUSSELS — The European Union and Britain inched ever closer to a Brexit deal on Wednesday, with the leaders of France and Germany saying they expected an agreement could be sealed within a day at an EU summit.

Positive vibes radiated from French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint news conference in Toulouse, France.

Merkel told reporters that negotiations were “in the final stretch.” Macron said: “I want to believe that a deal is being finalized and that we can approve it” Thursday, when EU leaders are due to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels.

Differences between the two sides remained but were narrowing.

“Good progress, and work is ongoing,” EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters Wednesday evening as he prepared to brief the EU Parliament’s Brexit steering group.

The EU Parliament’s chief Brexit official, Guy Verhofstadt, said Johnson had moved mountains over the past days, seeking compromise where once he had been unbending.

“Before, the proposals of Mr. Johnson were absolutely unacceptable,” Verhofstadt said. “There has been a fundamental shift, that is clear.”

Johnson, meanwhile, likened Brexit to climbing Mount Everest, saying the summit was in sight, though still shrouded in cloud.

Brexit negotiations have been here before — seemingly closing in on a deal that is dashed at the last moment. But with Britain’s Oct. 31 departure date looming and just hours to go before the EU leaders’ summit, hopes were increasingly turning toward getting a broad political commitment, with the full legal details to be hammered out later. That could mean another EU summit on Brexit before the end of the month.

Negotiators were locked inside EU headquarters with few details leaking out. Wild movements in the British pound Wednesday underscored the uncertainty over what, if anything, might finally be decided.