Boris Johnson’s hopes of sealing a Brexit deal before an EU summit on 17-18 October have been dealt a blow after Finland’s prime minister said he believed time had run out.
As British and EU officials negotiated late into Monday evening, Antti Rinne, whose country holds the EU’s rolling presidency, appeared to call time on the prime minister’s race to find an agreement.
“I think there is no time in a practical or legal way to find an agreement before the EU council meeting. We need more time,” Rinne told a news conference after talks with the incoming president of the European council, Charles Michel, in Helsinki. [...]
EU sources suggested there was more cause for hope after talks between the negotiating teams on Monday, in a sign that the UK government might be preparing to make yet another concession. “We are cautiously optimistic,” said one diplomatic source.
But such is the complexity of the customs arrangements being discussed and the sensitivity of the issue of consent that EU officials have long doubted a legal text could be ready for leaders to approve when they meet at the summit. The EU has insisted the heads of state and government will not negotiate during their two-day meeting in Brussels. [...]
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