British PM Boris Johnson said that leaving the EU without a deal was never the outcome he wanted, but preparations for a no-deal are “very extensive”. “If we can make enough progress in the next few days, I intend to go to that crucial summit on October 17 and finalise an agreement that will protect the interests of business and citizens on both sides of the Channel, and on both sides of the border in Ireland,” Johnson wrote in the Telegraph.
Six weeks before he is due to lead Britain out of the European Union, Johnson is to meet Jean-Claude Juncker.
The British leader, after comparing himself to berserk comic book super-smasher Hulk will enjoy a genteel working lunch with the EU Commission president.
Johnson insisted that he will take the UK out of the bloc even if a deal cannot be reached at the European Council summit next month.
“I believe passionately that we can do it, and I believe that such an agreement is in the interests not just of the UK but also of our European friends,” he further wrote in the Telegraph.
Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, who will join the leaders for their talks in Juncker's native Grand Duchy, has said he has "no reason to be optimistic". And the European Parliament will this week vote on a resolution rejecting Johnson's demand that the so-called "Irish backstop" clause be stripped from the deal. Brussels, however, has played down talk of a breakthrough, insisting Johnson has yet to suggest any "legally operable" proposal to revise a previous withdrawal accord.
And in the meantime, Downing Street has billed the Luxembourg visit as part of efforts to negotiate an orderly divorce from the union before an October 17 EU summit.
According to Johnson, the measure that keeps the UK temporarily in the EU customs union has to go if he is to bring the agreement back to the House of Commons.
On Monday, Johnson will also hold talks with Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier
The accord will also have to win the support of the other 27 EU leaders and the European Parliament if Britain is not to crash out with no deal on October 31.
"Be in no doubt that if we cannot get a deal— the right deal for both sides — then the UK will come out anyway," Johnson said, writing in the Daily Telegraph on Monday.
Johnson had earlier said that he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask his European counterparts to postpone Brexit for a third time into next year.
Britain's Supreme Court will rule this week on a bid to overturn Johnson's decision to suspend parliament and limit time to debate the crisis. Barnier will address the European Parliament session in Strasbourg on Wednesday as MEPs vote to reaffirm and reinforce the EU Brexit stance.
Barnier, in the meantime, said, "I can't objectively tell you whether the contacts we have undertaken with Johnson's government will lead to an agreement between now and mid-October.” He had previously briefed the leaders of political groups in the assembly last Thursday said that he had a downbeat message.
