European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that there is very little time left and the risk of no-deal Brexit is “very real”. He added he’s “not emotionally attacked to the Irish backstop” and he has asked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson “to make, in writing, alternatives”.
EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also urged “everyone not to underestimate the consequences, clearly for the United Kingdom first of all but also for us, of the absence of a deal.” He also emphasized that the issue of Irish border was a precursor to an agreement. And, “if the United Kingdom leaves without a deal, I want to remind you that all these questions will not just disappear… Some three years after the Brexit referendum we should not be pretending to negotiate.”
