Mrs May and senior ministers visited Brussels this week for talks with senior EU officials
‘The UK is about to crash out with no deal by ACCIDENT’: EU’s Barnier says he ‘is more concerned than ever’ after a week of talks with May as she prepares for crunch meeting with Tusk at Arab summit in Egypt
Britain could crash out of the EU by accident in March without a deal, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator is reported to have told colleagues.
Michel Barnier told a French radio station today that he was ‘more worried than before’ after a week in which Theresa May and senior ministers visited Brussels in a bid to hammer out a workable plan.
And he privately told ambassadors that there was a high chance of an ‘accidental’ Brexit, the Guardian reported.
But EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is said to have revealed that Britain could suffer an ‘accidental’ no-deal Brexit
Mr Barnier told a French radio station on Friday that it was time for Mrs May (pictured with the negotiator in November) to take a decision and present a Brexit plan to Parliament
They will meet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh ahead of the European Union talks with the Arab League.
Nevertheless, May is expected to meet some of her counterparts one-on-one on the sidelines of the meeting to push her case for changes to the divorce agreement.
This could pave the way towards a later breakthrough, perhaps at the next planned full EU summit on March 21 and 22, just a week before Britain leaves the bloc.
‘There will be no deal in the desert in Sharm el-Sheikh, this is a summit between the EU and the Arab states,’ an EU source told reporters in Brussels.
Another official said: ‘It’s an opportunity where everyone can talk, but don’t expect a deal there.’
Downing Street has also dampened hopes of a deal by making a similar warning.