Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney emphasized that EU needs to get “credible proposal” on Irish backstop alternatives. But “we simply haven’t seen yet”, he added. He also said the meeting between Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and DUP’s Arlene Foster was “positive and friendly”. But he emphasized “it is important that its not interpreted as some sort of breakthrough, because I don’t think it is.”
Separately, a European Commission spokesperson said that there is not precise deadline for UK regarding Brexit proposals, but “every day counts”. She added, “we mentioned the European Council in October as a milestone in our calendar so in order to properly prepare a European Council the sooner we make progress the better, but I don’t have a precise date to give you”.