In the Independent:
EU leaders have given Boris Johnson an ultimatum to come up with a new Brexit plan by the end of September or face up to a no deal.
The deadline, agreed at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday evening, comes as the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier told Mr Johnson to stop “pretending” to negotiate.
On Wednesday evening French president Emmanuel Macron – who has taken the hardest line against the UK – met with Antti Rinne, Finland’s prime minister and the current holder of the rotating EU Council presidency.
“If the UK wants to discuss alternatives to the existing Brexit agreement then these must be presented before the end of the month,” Mr Rinne told reporters after the meeting in which the deadline was agreed.
“We are both concerned about what is happening in Britain right now and the confusion that is going on from there to Europe.
“If no proposals are forthcoming, I believe that quite a few European leaders agree with the position. Then it’s over. Now is the time to come up with clear presentations and make them verifiable.”
The new deadline gives Mr Johnson 12 days to produce proposals to replace the Irish backstop, which he has said he wants to scrap and replace with something else. Although Mr Macron and Mr Rinne do not speak for the whole EU, the deadline has weight given Finland holds the rotating presidency – which is charged with coordinating the views of member states.
Officials in Brussels are concerned the prime minister is wasting their time and playing out talks for as long as possible without presenting proposals – possibly with an eye on an upcoming election.
The bloc’s chief negotiator Mr Barnier told the European parliament earlier in the day: “Almost three years after the UK referendum, I don’t think we should be spending time pretending to negotiate. I think we need to move forward with determination.”
EU officials told The Independent last week that they were losing patience – and that they feared they were being “led up the garden path” by the UK negotiators.
