The UK government added that if a plan was agreed, it would introduce a withdrawal agreement bill to be voted on Saturday in a special Parliamentary session.
(Photo: IANS)
Brexit talks were set to continue between the negotiating teams of the UK and European Union on Monday that aimed at reaching a deal before a crunch summit later this week.
Both sides have said that they hoped to agree a deal before the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, reports BBC reported.
The UK government added that if a plan was agreed, it would introduce a withdrawal agreement bill to be voted on Saturday in a special Parliamentary session.
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However, a European diplomat told AFP that EU ambassadors may gather as soon as Sunday for a stock-taking if Barnier feels there is any backsliding from the British side.
The stepped-up negotiations came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar held a meeting on Thursday both sides dubbed “promising”.
On Sunday, Johnson, however, told his cabinet that while he could see a “pathway” to a deal, there was “still a significant amount of work” needed to get there.
The European Commission echoed the Prime Minister, saying: “A lot of work remains to be done.”
The President of the European Council Donald Tusk, who will host a summit next week had said that he would have pulled the plug on plans to discuss Brexit if there was no hope of progress.
The weekend talks were not a diplomatic “tunnel” — from which no leaks were meant to escape — of the kind that preceded the signing of a detailed withdrawal agreement last year, which was later rejected by British MPs, a European official told AFP.
Earlier this month, Johnson had submitted new proposals to the EU and its leaders promised to examine them carefully.
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