#Title Chances of Brexit deal low EU chief tells bloc as time ticks down to Sunday deadline

Reuters, Brussels/London

Britain is now more likely to leave the European Union’s orbit on Dec 31 without a trade deal than with an agreement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the bloc’s 27 national leaders yesterday, an EU official said.

The United Kingdom quit the EU in January but remains an informal member until Dec. 31 when it will finally leave the bloc’s orbit after 48 years. Both sides say they want a trade deal but negotiations are deadlocked.

After British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday there was “a strong possibility” a deal would not be clinched, von der Leyen said the probability of a no-deal had risen.

“The probability of a no deal is higher than of a deal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the message von der Leyen gave leaders at an EU summit in Brussels.

Johnson and von der Leyen have given negotiators until Sunday evening to break the impasse over fishing rights and allowing Britain to be punished if in the future it diverged from the bloc’s rules.

“Situation is difficult. Main obstacles remain,” the EU official said of von der Leyen’s message. “To be seen by Sunday whether a deal is possible.”

A no-trade deal Brexit would damage the economies of northern Europe, send shockwaves through financial markets, snarl borders and sow chaos through the delicate supply chains which stretch across Europe and beyond.

Negotiators seeking a new arrangement on nearly $1 trillion in annual trade are stuck on how much fish EU boats can take from British waters and how far the EU can tie Britain into its rules in the future.

While some EU diplomats have cast Johnson’s rhetoric as theatrics intended to wrench out a deal and please his domestic Brexit supporters, British officials say London cannot accept the EU’s demands and caution that a no-deal is on the cards.

Von der Leyen, speaking in Brussels, said it would be clear on Sunday whether the conditions for a deal had been reached. EU diplomats say the best case-scenario would be that talks continue past Sunday.