Boris Johnsoncan either demand an extension or leave the UK with a no deal Brexit, it has been reported. Political editor of The Sun Tom Newton Dunn wrote on Twitter: “After 45 minutes with Boris in No 10, European Parliament President David Sassoli says there are only two options left for Brexit “an extension of No Deal”.
The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli has said there has been “no progress” on Brexit.
“I came here in the confident hope of hearing proposals that could take negotiations forward.
“However, I must note that there has been no progress.”
Mr Sassoli is meeting EU leaders this week in a bid to resolve the Brexit deadlock.
The meetings come just ahead of a key EU summit on 17 October where Brexit will again take center stage.
According to Downing Street, a Brexit Deal appears unlikely after German chancellor Angela Merkel told Mr Johnson that an agreement is “overwhelmingly unlikely”.
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Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will leave the EU on October 31, deal or no deal.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk sent a public tweet to Mr Johnson, telling him “the future of Europe and the UK” was at stake.
Mr Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar will be meeting later this week in a desperate bid to forge a deal.
Under Mr Johnson’s proposals, Northern Ireland would leave the EU’s customs union alongside the rest of the UK, at the start of 2021 but they would continue to apply EU legislation relating to agricultural and other products.
Customs checks on goods traded between the UK and EU would be “decentralized “, with paperwork submitted electronically and only a “very small number” of physical checks.
The German chancellor Mrs Merkel has refused to discuss her phone call with Mr Johnson this evening, but only took press questions on her conversation with the Estonian president.
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Luca Jahier, European Economic and Social Committee President said this week:“We are closely following the latest proposals of the UK government. We fear that, for the time being, these proposals lack the necessary basis to secure a deal. In fact, we are worried that we are running out of time for an orderly Brexit “.
Mr Sassoli said in his statement:” As I explained to Mr Johnson, the Parliament will not agree to a deal at any price. We will not agree to a deal that undermines the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process or compromise the integrity of our single market. This we made plain in our resolution adopted with a huge majority in September.
“We have examined the UK proposals to replace the original backstop and our response is that these are a long way from something to which the Parliament could agree. In addition, they are not immediately operable.
“Negotiations, I know, are continuing and the Parliament, through its Brexit Steering Group, is being kept fully informed by Michel Barnier of the progress on those talks.
“There are two alternatives to a deal at this juncture: extension or no deal.”
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