EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier gave special attention on what he described as the “huge and serious divergence” between the UK and the EU27 on avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

At EU Summit Barnier, gave the EU leaders a presentation on the state of the talks, said: “Now we are waiting for the UK white paper and I hope it will contain workable and realistic proposals, but let me mention once again that the time is very short.”