Ireland says unclear if EU UK can agree wording on border by Monday
Simon Coveney
DUBLIN (Reuters) - It is not yet clear if Britain and the European Union can agree on written assurances to avoid a hard Northern Ireland border by a Monday deadline   Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney  said on Sunday.
 Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney  arrives to attend the Eastern Partnership summit at the European Council Headquarters in Brussels  Belgium  November 24  2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
But  he  said  he  was hopeful a meeting between British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday would lead to a deal in time for a Dec. 14-15 EU summit. That would allow Britain to move on to talks on its future trading relations with the bloc.
Tusk said he had asked May to “put a final offer on the table” by Monday  but  Coveney  suggested agreement on the wording of written reassurances may come later.
“The hope is that those [Monday] meetings will result in a momentum that can be carried into the leaders’ summit the week after ... and can allow this Brexit negotiation process to open up to phase two of discussions ”  Coveney  told RTE radio.
Asked if he expected an agreed text of written British assurances on the issue Monday morning   Coveney  said: “Let’s not run before we can walk here. Obviously  we would like that to be the case.”
DUBLIN (Reuters) - It is not yet clear if Britain and the European Union can agree on written assurances to avoid a hard Northern Ireland border by a Monday deadline   [TGT]said on Sunday.
 [TGT]arrives to attend the Eastern Partnership summit at the European Council Headquarters in Brussels  Belgium  November 24  2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
But  [TGT]  said  [TGT]  was hopeful a meeting between British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday would lead to a deal in time for a Dec. 14-15 EU summit. That would allow Britain to move on to talks on its future trading relations with the bloc.
Tusk said he had asked May to “put a final offer on the table” by Monday  but  [TGT]suggested agreement on the wording of written reassurances may come later.
“The hope is that those [Monday] meetings will result in a momentum that can be carried into the leaders’ summit the week after ... and can allow this Brexit negotiation process to open up to phase two of discussions ”  [TGT]told RTE radio.
Asked if [TGT] expected an agreed text of written British assurances on the issue Monday morning   [TGT]said: “Let’s not run before we can walk here. Obviously  we would like that to be the case.”