The EU's chief negotiator for the orderly withdrawal of Brexit, Michel Barnier, considered on Friday 11 October, after his meeting with the British Secretary of State for Brexit, Stephen Barclay, that the conditions were right for a new phase of "intense negotiations", the European Commission and several EU Council sources said in a statement. Negotiators for both teams were therefore expected to negotiate from 11 October and throughout the weekend to reach an agreement earlier this week, ahead of the European Summit on 17 October.
Michel Barnier's message to the ambassadors was generally positive, said two sources, the negotiator having indicated that the United Kingdom had moved on the four main issues of the customs regime, the consent of the Stormont assembly, the backstop parameters and the level playing field, but "he did not give details", said one source, he was content with saying that these changes in the British position justified entering a new phase of work, which was not the case at the beginning of the week.
These changes could be linked to Thursday's meeting between Boris Johnson and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, described by the latter as "promising". According to the BBC, on this occasion, London would have taken a step forward on the customs regime and suggested, here again, alignment with the rules of the Customs Union, while keeping Northern Ireland in the British Customs Territory.
If the Member States supported this entry into negotiations, "we must remain cautious, we talk of the end of the tunnel, but at the moment it is only a very small light that we see", said one source. Another meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives in Article 50 formation is scheduled for 14 October with the negotiator. The next steps are the General Affairs Council - Article 50, in Luxembourg on 15 October, and then the European Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)