Juncker offers hope of deal by October 31
EU chief hints backstop could be dropped as Johnson demands ‘take it or leave it’ offer
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER has said the EU can agree a new Brexit deal by Oct 31 as it emerged Boris Johnson wants a “take it or leave it” offer from Brussels.
Amid increasing optimism in Downing Street that a deal is within reach, the European Commission president also said he was not “emotionally attached” to the Irish backstop and that it could be ditched.
There are growing signs that the details of a deal could be hammered out when the Prime Minister meets EU leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York next week, which will be attended by Arlene Foster, the DUP leader.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, said he would be meeting Mr Johnson in New York “to try to get a deal”, adding that “the mood music is good”.
In a further positive sign that the Prime Minister could get a deal through Parliament, Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP, said on a visit to Brussels that up to 30 of his colleagues were prepared to rebel against Jeremy Corbyn and back an agreement negotiated by Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson is seeking to convince Brussels to reach a new Brexit agreement with the condition that there would be no further extension on offer if MPS rejected it. Parliament would be presented with the final option of the deal, or leaving without a deal on Oct 31, the current Brexit deadline.
The pound jumped to a two-month high following Mr Juncker’s comments to Sky News. Asked if a deal was possible by Oct 31, he said: “We can get a deal. I’m doing everything to have a deal, because I don’t like the idea of no deal because it will have catastrophic consequences.”
He confirmed that he was prepared to get rid of the backstop, which has been the main stumbling block for MPS, if an alternative could be agreed.
Mr Johnson has proposed replacing the backstop with an all-ireland trade zone for livestock, plants and agricultural produce, with other checks carried out away from the border. Mr Juncker said: “It is the basis of a deal. It is the starting and the arrival point.” But he said Mr Johnson would need to go further because “the internal market has to be preserved in its entirety”.
He added: “If the objectives are met – all of them – then we don’t need the backstop. I don’t have an emotional relationship to the backstop. If the results are there, I don’t care about it.”
Mr Juncker received documents with proposals from Britain on Wednesday. While the documents are not legally operable, No10 said it planned for them to be a springboard for talks.
They included a list of possible options the Government thinks it is worth discussing, such as a paper on food standards, one on industrial goods and one on customs, Brussels sources said.
It is unlikely that the EU would offer Mr Johnson a “take it or leave it” deal in writing, but Government sources said the plan to rule out another extension would give the EU “greater certainty” that it would pass through Parliament, adding that Brussels did not want to offer a deal only for it to be rejected by MPS. Mr Johnson would only need to
persuade one EU country to veto a further extension, and hopes that by making it clear there will be no delay, it will concentrate minds in Westminster.
The move would effectively nullify the Benn Act, which seeks to force Mr Johnson to ask for a three-month delay if he fails to agree a deal next month.
A number of EU leaders do not welcome the prospect of Parliament forcing another delay to Brexit. A Whitehall source said: “It’s on record that the French might be against an extension. It’s not a position that would be unwelcome in certain parts of the EU and they want to know that if a deal is agreed it will get through Parliament.”
Mr Varadkar said yesterday: “If I were to assess the situation, I would say there is a real willingness to find a deal. We were in touch today. I’m going to meet [Mr Johnson] next week in New York and try to get a deal.”
He added: “The rhetoric has tempered and the mood music is good.
“The difficulty is that when it comes to the substance of the issue that needs to be resolved, the gaps are still very wide and we have no time to lose.” Yesterday Steven Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, issued a warning to Spain that its goods would be under threat if the EU failed to reach a Brexit deal. Sherry, manchego cheese and cava would lose EU protection, Mr Barclay told businessmen in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Iain Duncan Smith told The Daily Telegraph that EU leaders were increasingly “panicking” at the prospect of no deal. Speaking on Chopper’s Brexit Podcast, he said his EU sources had told him they did not want another extension because it would bring “continuous chaos”.