Risk of no-deal Brexit 'remains very real': Juncker

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivering a speech in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Sept 18, 2019. PHOTO: AP

STRASBOURG (AFP/BLOOMBERG) - The risk of Britain leaving the European Union without a divorce deal "remains very real", European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday (Sept 18), sparking a drop in the pound.

"The risk of a no deal remains very real. That maybe be the choice of the United Kingdom, but never the choice of the European Union," Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, two days after meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Luxembourg.

Mr Juncker also said the main sticking point continued to be the so-called backstop to avoid a hard Irish border and demanded that the United Kingdom provide its proposals for an alternative in written form as soon as possible.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Wednesday said the European Union was in no mood to pretend to negotiate, levelling a warning at London's lack of concrete proposals.

"It is certainly not a question of pretending to negotiate", Barnier warned in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In "this extraordinary and complex negotiation... it is our responsibility to pursue this process with determination, with sincerity," he told Members of European Parliament.

Johnson has said he will take Britain out of the EU at the end of October whether he has obtained a new deal with the bloc or not. But talks have been sluggish and the EU is skeptical about whether the British government can come up with a solution that does not breach the bloc's red lines and that can get UK parliament approval.

The government wants to replace the backstop - which the EU says is necessary to protect peace on the island of Ireland - with new measures that avoid the UK staying in a customs union with the bloc.

But with only six weeks to go, the government has not put forward any formal proposals, EU officials said.

"I called on the prime minister to come forward with operational proposals in writing," Juncker said. "Until such time as those proposals are presented, I will not be able to tell you, looking you straight in the eye, that any real progress has been achieved."

Pound Falls

A British official said on Tuesday the government is sounding out the bloc on its ideas for the Irish border before submitting its plans in written form.

The talks with Johnson in Luxembourg on Monday were "friendly, constructive and, in part, positive," Juncker said, but added that the prospect of the UK leaving the bloc without an agreement to soften the economic blow "remains real."

The pound dipped after Juncker's comments, dropping 0.3 per cent to US$1.2467.

It has staged a small recovery this month as the UK parliament and the British courts push back on Johnson's efforts to crash out of the EU in October whether an agreement has been reached or not. Johnson's officials have indicated he will defy a new law designed to force him to seek a delay to Brexit rather than allow a no-deal split next month.

The EU has signaled that it will be open to postponing the UK's departure date rather than see a no-deal crash-out.

While there are not any written proposals for alternatives to the backstop, the two sides have been talking about possibilities. The UK has suggested an all-Ireland agri-food zone, that would eliminate the need for checks. But the EU says this does not go far enough to replace the backstop and insists the government must come up with more ideas.

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