U.K., EU leaders don’t budge, but agree to more talks

B RUSS E LS» Great Britain and the European Union refused to budge an inch Thursday toward any compromise over Brexit, but at least they are on speaking terms again about their impending divorce.

They agreed to further negotiations in the next few weeks, although that means any deal will come perilously close to the scheduled deadline of March 29. That risks a chaotic departure for Great Britain that could be costly to each side — both to businesses and ordinary people.

“A no-deal is for us not an option. It is a disaster on both sides of the Channel,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit official.

Looking at the evertighter deadline, British Prime Minister Theresa May said after talks at EU headquarters in Brussels, “it’s not going to be easy.”

But she vowed: “I am going to deliver Brexit. I am going to deliver it on time.”

May was able to clear the air after EU Council President Donald Tusk exacerbated the frosty climate Wednesday by wondering aloud what “special place in hell” might be reserved for those who backed Brexit with no idea of how to deliver it.

May said she had “raised with President Tusk the language that he used,” saying his words “caused widespread dismay” in Great Britain.

Tusk’s comments were condemned by British Brexiteers but at least served to focus minds on how wide a gulf remains between the U.K. and the EU. It was little surprise that talks at EU Commission headquarters were described as “robust.”

At the end, May and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed on a renewed effort to hold more negotiations on seeking a breakthrough.

The two leaders agreed to assess progress “before the end of February to take stock of these discussions,” a joint statement said. Two years ago, May set Brexit day as March 29 — and original plans were to have a deal in place six months ahead of time.

As the time shrinks between a deal and the cutoff date, the more difficult it becomes for businesses and authorities to adapt quickly to the fundamental changes that a withdrawal from the bloc would entail.

Both sides still disagree on whether the divorce agreement struck between May’s government and the EU — and then summarily rejected by Britain’s Parliament — can be changed to ease British objections.

“The EU27 will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, which represents a carefully balanced compromise between the European Union and the U.K., in which both sides have made significant concessions,” the joint statement said.