After meeting the PM, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says: a new #Brexit deal is still possible this month. Now up to Commission. Hopes negotiations can restart. Said it’s not about which side makes concessions. It’s about getting a deal done so UK can leave EU on 31 October.. /1
So does this mean the two men came suddenly came to a compromise solution behind closed doors? Varadkar said they’d agreed not to talk about the details (in public, one assumes) ? /2
Or, to put a more cynical hat on: is the Irish PM - who was all smiles while making his statement- determined to push back at the bogeyman image the Johnson government have bestowed on him: ‘a naysayer, waiting for new extension, hoping for second referendum/far softer Brexit’ /3
And/or has the Johnson charm won out again? Whenever EU leaders meet him face-to-face (rather than after phone calls) they seem taken with the PM: his sincerity that he wants a deal (think trips to Paris, Berlin, the G7..) /4
NB EU diplomats take note that the aggressive briefing re EU carefully comes from ‘anonymous sources in No10’ rather than from Johnson’s mouth. He tends to talk about “our friends and partners’ when talking about the EU .. /05
Can say from all my EU talks - whatever the charm factor, however much the EU wants a deal, as much as EU leaders want to seem open (they’re also trying to avoid being blamed in case no deal Brexit eventually happens) - there is very little trust EU-side in Boris Johnson /6
And EU leaders strongly support memberstate Ireland. Eg German ambassador to Ireland spend an hour with border communities yesterday assuring them. Also Barnier strong on this in EuropeanParliament yesterday. Basically:on customs infrastructure, rest of EU takes cue from Dublin/7
