Irish PM Varadkar in Brussels as Brexit talks enter frenzied fortnight
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives in Brussels to meet European Union officials on Thursday as Brexit talks enter a frenzied fortnight designed to produce a divorce deal with Britain and a blueprint for future ties.
FILE PHOTO: Ireland's Prime Minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar arrives for the informal meeting of European Union leaders in Salzburg, Austria, September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The Brexit countdown begins with Varadkar meeting EU leaders’ chairman Donald Tusk and the bloc’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier later on Thursday.
Barnier will on Friday meet politicians from Northern Ireland where the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), on which British Prime Minister Theresa May relies to govern, is key to sealing any agreement to end Britain’s four decades in the bloc.
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Both sides are readying concessions and will exchange papers on the main potential deal-breaker - avoiding extensive border checks between EU-state Ireland and Britain’s province of Northern Ireland after Brexit - as well as future ties.
If they fail to agree, Britain is bound to leave the bloc next March with little or no agreements in place to mitigate the economic shock and broad disruptions expected from air traffic to car production to food trade.
Should the leaders of the 27 EU states remaining in the bloc have no Brexit deal to sign off in November, they are due to move into contingency mode, stepping up preparations for a disorderly British departure.
Some diplomats and officials say talks could drag on through December, or even January, but any deal must also be ratified by both British and EU parliaments in time for Brexit day on March 29, 2019.
Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Janet Lawrence
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