Talks in Brussels as Brexit deadline looms

LONDON >> Britain and the European Union said Monday that divorce talks were making slow progress, as the U.K. government tried to look beyond Brexit with a wide-ranging policy platform read by Queen Elizabeth II in a pomp-filled ceremony.

In terms of historical importance, the painstaking paragraphby-paragraph talks at the EU’s glass-and-steel Berlaymont headquarters outweighed the regal ritual in which an ermine-draped monarch delivered a speech on the priorities of a Conservative government that could be out of office within weeks.

But the spectacle, complete with horse-drawn coaches, lords in scarlet robes and a diamondstudded crown, did provide a diversion from the long Brexit grind.

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on Oct. 31, and an EU summit on Thursday or Friday is considered one of the last possible chances to approve a divorce agreement to accommodate that timeframe.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists the country will leave at the end of the month with or without a deal.

“My government’s priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on the 31st of October,” the queen said in a speech to Parliament, written for her by the government.

It remains to be seen whether Johnson will achieve that goal.

Brexit negotiations have intensified over recent days after the British and Irish leaders said they could see a “pathway” to a deal. Technical teams from Britain and the EU worked through the weekend, but both sides said Monday that significant gaps remained between their positions.

Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, said “the talks remain constructive but there is still a lot of work to do.”

Discussions centered on the difficult issue of the future border arrangements between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.