Michel Barnier ‘not optimistic’ about avoiding no-deal Brexit
The European Union’s top Brexit negotiator has said he is not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario as he cannot meet Britain’s demands to scrap the Irish backstop.
Michel Barnier declared that the so-called backstop had to stay to protect the integrity of the EU’s single market while ensuring an open border in Ireland.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said: “I am not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario, but we should all continue to work with determination”.
“The backstop is the maximum amount of flexibility that the EU can offer to a non-member state.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on 31 October.
Opposition lawmakers are planning to act next week to top no-deal in parliament.
Writing in the same newspaper, Johnson’s de facto deputy Michael Gove said that to remove the option of a no-deal Brexit on Oct 31 would “diminish” the “chances of securing changes” to the Brexit deal that could get it passed through parliament.
