EU and UK will ‘intensify’ Brexit deal talks, says EU Commission

EU and UK will ‘intensify’ Brexit deal talks, says EU Commission

“Brexit is like climbing a mountain,” the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said after a “constructive” meeting with Britain’s Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay on Friday morning, Euronews reports.

“We need vigilance, determination and patience,” Barnier told reporters on his way to debrief EU ambassadors and Parliament’s Brexit group.

He gave no details however on the substance of the talks.

The meeting between the two men came a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar had a “detailed and constructive discussion” in which they agreed that a Brexit deal is possible.

The exchange between the two leaders represented a change of mood compared to earlier in the week when EU and UK officials accused each other of playing a “stupid blame game.”

The two sides are tussling over the backstop agreement — an insurance policy championed by the EU to keep Northern Ireland in the bloc’s customs union in order to prevent the creation of a physical border which could threaten peace on the island — which the UK argues is undemocratic.SPONSORED CONTENTRolando Villazón’s Wild Western wows LeipzigRolando Villazón’s Wild Western wows LeipzigMusica, in partnership with Rolex

The UK presented alternative plans last week which would see Northern Ireland remains in the customs union for goods and agri-food products with physical checks to be conducted away from the border.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday morning that “the UK has still not come forward with a workable, realistic proposal” but tempered that by saying that “even the slight chance (that a deal can be struck) must be used.”