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The former head of the European Commission has predicted EU negotiators will make last-minute compromises in order to secure a Brexit deal.
Jose Manuel Barroso, who was commission president for a decade until 2014, played down fears of a no-deal split by pointing to the pattern of EU negotiations going down to the wire.
“Typically, these kinds of agreements are made very late in the process,” he told BBC Radio.
“There is always some drama and we are seeing this drama here in Britain. But at the end I have no doubt of the commitment of the European Union to a compromise.
“People want a compromise. Now we have to see what will be that compromise. We are very close to a final deal but I will not be surprised if we still have to wait for some more time.”
Barroso’s comments backed-up the badessment on the state of Brexit talks given by UK health secretary Matt Hanbad.
European finance commissioner Pierre Moscovici also told French TV today that a Brexit deal is “without doubt the most likely outcome” from negotiations.
Barosso, who is visiting London to give a talk on global trade, said it would be “absurd” if an agreement couldn’t be reached.
“When you look at this from London or Brussels you think about this as very difficult, very dramatic. But, if you look at this from outside – from Beijing, or Washington – it would be rather parochial.
“It would be absurd that Europeans among themselves, and I include Britain, are not able to agree on these issues.”
Health secretary Matt Hanbad also predicted a Brexit deal will be done at the death (Reuters)
Prime minister Theresa May has claimed the Withdrawal Agreement is now 95% complete and talks between civil servants are due to resume this week after a two-week break.
Optimism over the chances of a deal was dampened last week though when European parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said the agreement should be considered “0% agreed” until the question of the Irish border is resolved.
One idea to resolve the stalemate is extending the transition period in order to give more time to finalise a trade deal that would mean the Irish border backstop never needed to be used.
May insists the extension would be only be necessary “for a matter of months”, but Britain’s manufacturing organization, EEF, said it a “prolonged” transition period would be necessary because trade negotiations often take five years or more.
“I don’t think we should over dramatise this issue of timing,” Barosso said of the debate over the extension.
MORE: ‘Unholy alliance’ of MPs tell Barnier to prepare for UK to remain in the EU
“Of course, it’s better to be punctual. I hope that we are punctual but I think it’s not the end of the world if we need some more time or if we need some more transition or implementation time.”
Barosso, who now works for the London-based Goldman Sachs bank, predicted the most difficult issue facing the prime minister would not be getting a deal with the EU, but getting that past MPs.
“We have seen during this period that more difficult than the negotiation between the European Union and the British government has been the negotiations in the United Kingdom itself, the government itself and the Conservative party itself,” he said.
“I hope there’s enough consensus in Britain to come to an agreement with the European Union. Until now, the European Union has been very united in these negotiations. The same should happen here. It’s an important issue from a national point of view.”
Barosso last intervened in the Brexit debate to say that it was useful in disproving comparisons between the EU and the Soviet Union.
Speaking in April, he said: “That is the only benefit I can see of Brexit. We are showing the world that that we are free union of countries. If one country wants to leave it can leave.”
MORE: Ex-EU chief Barroso says Brexit proves bloc is ‘not like the Soviet Union’
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