UK and European negotiators were reported to be working through the night to hammer out the final part of the Brexit deal as Theresa May fights to keep a crunch summit on Sunday on track.
Prime Minister Theresa May met EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels and the pair made progress on the terms of the agreement, according to officials on both sides.
But the text is still not finished. After meeting Juncker for one hour and 50 minutes, May announced that she will return to Brussels for last minute talks on Saturday, just a day before EU leaders are due to sign off on the deal. That wasn’t expected.
Negotiating teams are now planning to work through the night on Wednesday to get the draft accord ready, one official said.
"We have given direction to our negotiators this evening. The work on those issues will now start immediately," May told the BBC. "I believe we have been able to give sufficient direction for them to be able to resolve those remaining issues."
If they don’t, there’s a chance EU leaders could cancel the gathering, which would deal a major blow to May’s hopes of concluding the negotiations by the end of November.
Midnight
EU diplomats in Brussels were told to expect the draft political declaration by midnight on Wednesday, and EU envoys were due to discuss the text on Thursday morning, a person familiar with the matter said. It’s unclear whether a draft - or at least parts of it - will be circulated, following the failure to resolve outstanding issues.
Officials had warned that if the text wasn’t ready by the Thursday morning, then the summit was at risk. Still, EU deadlines have a habit of slipping.
A handful of tricky issues remain outstanding in the 20-page outline of the future trade and security agreement between Britain and the EU. These include the future of Gibraltar, over which Spain wants a say, fishing rights, and security.
The EU’s two most powerful countries, Germany and France, are divided over the Sunday summit. While German chancellor Angela Merkel refuses to go unless the deal is already sealed, French President Emmanuel Macron wants the opportunity to discuss the text himself, rather than leave it to lower-level officials, diplomats with knowledge of the discussions said.
At home, May’s political position remains precarious. She is battling adversaries in her own Conservative Party who are plotting to oust her while members of her Cabinet are pushing her get a better deal.
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