Just ahead of the EU leaders summit in Salzburg, Austria, European Council President Donald Tusk said he would call for an extra summit in November for Brexit. He said in a news confidence “the Brexit negotiations are entering their decisive phase. Various scenarios are still possible today but I’d like to stress that some of Prime Minister May’s proposals from Chequers indicated positive evolution in the UK’s approach.”
He added that “today there is perhaps more hope but there is surely less and less time”, and “every day that is left we must use for talks. I’d like to finalize them still this autumn.” However, he also noted that the part in UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers plan
“will need to reworked and further negotiated”.
Yesterday, Tusk laid down three key Brexit issues to focus on at the Salzburg meeting, including:
- 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.
