Top EU leaders are set to discuss Brexit at a summit scheduled for October 17 to 18, with the current Brexit deadline set to expire by the end of the month.
Speaking to German weekly Welt am Sonntag, however, Finnish Prime Minister Antii Rinne said he expected the UK to ask for another deadline extension.
“It currently seems like there would not be a deal by the end of October and there is a danger of hard Brexit,” he said, according to the report.
Rinne, whose country holds the six-month rotating presidency of the bloc, told Johnson it was “important to find a solution within a week.”
Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne.
In the article published on Sunday, Rinne noted: “But it would seem that Johnson has only now understood what a big mess this is, and he has difficulty making a proposal that would get him out,” Rinne said in translated remarks.
“That is why I fear that the October summit would be more about an extension than a concrete solution for this situation.”
Rinne also said it was important to prevent a hard Brexit.”I would be ready to consider a negotiation extension request,” Rinne added.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent out a proposal to bypass the backstop between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. In the letter to EU leaders, Johnson suggested “the potential creation of an all-island regulatory zone on the island of Ireland, covering all goods.” The letter provided few practical details, except to say most of the trade would be controlled “electronically” with only a “very small number of physical checks.”
