The political fog is beginning to clear in London.
Prime Minister Theresa May is close to a customs solution she believes will pass muster with both Brexiteers and Remainers in her own party. Now she just has the Democratic Unionist Party, the House of Commons, the Irish government and the rest of the EU to get on side.
The problem is, nobody appears to have walked back from their respective red lines.
“The UK will be leaving the Customs Union, as we’re leaving the European Union,” Ms May told reporters in Sofia this week. Instead, the UK is seeking “future customs arrangements” that will allow it to sign trade deals, maintain “frictionless” trade with the EU and avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, Ms May said.
After meeting Ms May on Thursday, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar welcomed the “insight into some new thinking” he got from her, but insisted the Irish red line still stands.
“Certainly, any move on customs that brings the UK closer to the EU is to be welcomed,” he said. “But I very much emphasised that resolving the issue of avoiding a hard border requires more than just customs.”
He also repeated the need for a “backstop” for Northern Ireland in the exit treaty, in case those customs arrangements are not ready - which the Conservative government has admitted they won’t be - by the time Brexit day comes around.
“We need that to be part of the withdrawal agreement, and if it’s not part of the withdrawal agreement well then there will be no withdrawal agreement, and no transition agreement,” Mr Varadkar said.
Ms May repeated this week that the backstop as it stands is “unacceptable”, and that “the UK would be shortly putting forward its own backstop proposal in relation to customs”.
What is not clear is if or how that will tie in with the “future customs arrangements” the UK is still fighting over.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has been telling his party colleagues in private to prepare for another crisis. “If we're going to have a crisis we might as well have it now,” he said, according to the Irish Independent.
Meanwhile, Britain’s new home secretary Sajid Javid had a minor personal crisis in Brussels this week trying to escape intrepid reporters and reassure MEPs over citizens’ rights.
He met with Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, following a letter in which he requested MEPs also “focus attention” on British migrants to the rest of the EU.
His tone doesn’t appear to have mollified Mr Verhofstadt, who said after the meeting that his anxieties had not been “sufficiently addressed” and that it was “unacceptable” for EU citizens, who were never consulted on Brexit, to have to pay to retain their existing rights.
Brexit talks resume next Tuesday, covering the future relationship and outstanding withdrawal issues. A further round is scheduled for the first week in June. (Sarah Collins)