The European Union awaits the United Kingdom’s decision on if and how to continue the Brexit negotiations, as the deadline set by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson passed on Thursday.
On 7 September, Johnson said that if the 15 October deadline was not met, both parties should “accept that and move on”. His full response to the situation is expected later on Friday.
EU leaders agreed during a European Council summit on Thursday evening that “progress on the key issues of interest to the Union is still not sufficient for an agreement to be made” in the Brexit negotiations.
Over the past weeks, multiple high-ranking EU officials have said that the EU still wants an agreement, “but not at any price”.
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In response to the European Council’s conclusions, Britain’s Chief Brexit negotiator David Frost said that he was “disappointed” and “surprised the EU is no longer committed to working ‘intensively’ to reach a future partnership”, as had been agreed on with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 3 October.
“Also surprised by suggestion that to get an agreement all future moves must come from the UK. It’s an unusual approach to conducting a negotiation,” Frost added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Johnson to continue the Brexit negotiations and said that the EU will need to compromise on the deal.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo responded to the recent developments by saying that “not closing a deal is crazy, but a bad deal is even crazier”.
Amée Zoutberg
The Brussels Times
