PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron told Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday that there was not much time to wholly rewrite Britain’s Brexit divorce deal before an Oct. 31 deadline. Johnson met Macron at the Elysee Palace a day after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who challenged Britain to come up with acceptable alternatives to the agreed safety net provision for the UK-Irish land border.
More than three years after the United Kingdom voted to quit the European Union, it is still unclear on what terms – or indeed whether – the bloc’s second largest economy will leave the club it joined in 1973. Talks over lunch were constructive, a French official said. Macron left the door open to Britain seeking a solution to the Irish “backstop”, but said any alternative must respect both the integrity of the EU single market and stability on the divided island of Ireland. “I want to be very clear,” he said. “In the month ahead, we will not find a new withdrawal agreement that deviates far from the original.”
On his first trip abroad since entering 10 Downing Street a month ago, Johnson has warned Merkel and Macron that they face a potentially disorderly no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 unless the EU does a new deal. Speaking in The Hague, Merkel said she had not meant to set a deadline when saying on Wednesday that a solution to the Irish border issue could be found within 30 days, but to “highlight the urgency”. (Agencies)
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