Brexit will be an important topic in the upcoming European Council meeting in Salzburg on September 19 and 20. European Council President Donald Tusk laid out three key issues to focus on, in a statement:
- First, we should reach a common view on the nature and overall shape of the joint political declaration about our future partnership with the UK.
- Second, we will discuss how to organise the final phase of the Brexit talks, including the possibility of calling another European Council in November.
- Third, we should reconfirm the need for a legally operational backstop on Ireland, so as to be sure that there will be no hard border in the future.
Tusk said a no deal scenario is “still quite possible”. But, “if we all act responsibly, we can avoid a catastrophe.”
Separately, UK Brexit Minister Dominic Raab told Spiegel newspaper that Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers plan are “so far the only proposals that guarantee smooth trade between Britain and the EU and take account of the specific problems in Ireland.” And he saw “no other credible alternative, either from here or from the EU side.”
Raab also added that “We have already made extensive compromises.. We have shown ourselves to be very pragmatic and ambitious. Now the ball is in the European Union’s court.”
