May fails to break Brexit impasse in EU summit talks In Brussels Theresa May failed to secure a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations at meetings with EU leaders at a summit […]

In Brussels Theresa May failed to secure a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations at meetings with EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday . The Prime Minister had appealed to the rest of the bloc to “step forward together” with Britain. Despite reporting a “very positive” atmosphere after talks with EU Council President Donald Tusk, and insisting the two sides were making progress, there was no indication that she had been able to unblock any of the big issues holding up the negotiations. Mr Tusk said it was possible for the two sides to make “sufficient progress” by their next summit in mid-December. However, he added that it was “still a huge challenge”, and that the UK had to make progress on all the issues within 10 days , including the Irish border.

Brexit uncertainty

Earlier, Mrs May had a hastily-arranged meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose position as Europe’s pre-eminent leader has been threatened by uncertainty over a new coalition, and urged her to help push the negotiations into their second phase on a trade deal. She also lobbied the leaders of Belgium, Denmark and Lithuania in the margins of the summit, but none were able to offer explicit reassurances.

“From my perspective, it seems that they are progressing, so I have decided to be optimistic about this, and I really hope that we can move forward in December,” Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said after the meeting, referring to the tentative deadline to move the Brexit talks on to trade issues. However, EU officials insisted that the UK should wrap up its first phase of negotiations, on core divorce issues. The talks have ground to a halt as the other 27 EU members insist that Britain needs to raise its offer in its so-called “Brexit bill”. Mrs May suggested that she had support from her cabinet to improve the offer , which is now reportedly around €40bn (£35bn). However, she insisted any such move must be tied to a final deal on future relations next year.

Hard border In recent days, there has been increasing pressure from the Irish government for fresh assurances that there will be no “ hard border ” between Northern Ireland and the Republic. At the summit, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned that the deadlock in the negotiations cannot be broken until the issue is resolved. Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney insisted that there had to be a “credible roadmap” from the UK setting out how they would ensure there was no return to a hard border before EU leaders would not give the green light for the phase two negotiations. “These negotiations are continuing but what I’m clear about is that we must step forward together. This is for both the UK and the European Union to move to the next stage,” she said.