U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Luxembourg on Sept. 16 in a renewed bid to reach a breakthrough on Brexit, with only seven weeks left before the country is due to leave the EU.
Ahead of the talks, Johnson said Sept. 13 that there was "the rough shape of the deal to be done" over Brexit, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic," according to a BBC News report.
Johnson also insisted that he would take the U.K. out of the EU on Oct. 31 even in the absence of a Brexit deal.
Johnson's team is reportedly preparing detailed plans that would allow him to strike a new Brexit pact during the Oct. 17-18 European Council summit, the Financial Times reported, citing government officials as sources. The prime minister would then force that deal through the U.K. Parliament in the next 10 days, including weekends.
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said there was "no reason to be optimistic" since there were still no concrete written proposals from the U.K. regarding the Irish backstop issue, the main sticking point in the negotiations, according to The Guardian. Barnier will also meet with Johnson.
Under a recently enacted law, Johnson is required to ask the EU to delay the Brexit date by Oct. 19, unless the U.K. Parliament approves a withdrawal agreement or agrees to a no-deal exit.
U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has vowed that he would act with "additional procedural creativity" if Johnson attempted to disobey the Brexit delay law, according to BBC News.
