This archive report was first published on 5 October 2019.
With the Brexit deadline fast approaching, the European Commission has made it clear that the UK's current proposals are not sufficient to secure a deal.
According to the Commission, the UK's proposals do not provide a basis for concluding an agreement, a stance that is at odds with the British government's assertion that its proposals are a 'fair and reasonable compromise'.
As the clock ticks down, European diplomats are emphasizing the need for the UK to offer revised, viable proposals within days, with the EU summit on October 17-18 set to determine whether Britain is headed for a Brexit deal, no-deal, or an extension.
"Everything must move very quickly and any negotiation has to start at the beginning of next week," one diplomat told AFP. "We will evaluate next Friday whether it's been possible to bring the positions closer."
The main sticking point remains the 'backstop' for Northern Ireland, which is meant to guarantee no border springs up between the British territory and EU member Ireland, while also maintaining the EU's single market.
Britain's current idea for an alternative to the backstop, which would see all the UK, or at least Northern Ireland, remaining in the EU's customs union, is not acceptable for the EU, with concerns over rampant smuggling and the potential for the rest of the UK to diverge from EU labour, environmental, and tax norms.
As the Brexit deadline looms, the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is determined to take his country out of the EU at the end of this month, but the EU is refusing to characterise the talks held so far as negotiations, underlining a preference to stick with a Brexit withdrawal agreement that was struck with Johnson's predecessor Theresa May but rejected three times by British MPs.
