Chances of a ‘no deal’ Brexit are now 50-50 claims Latvian foreign minister ahead of talks with Jeremy Hunt
Edgars Rinkēvičs gave his gloomy assessment as he prepared to welcome the Foreign Secretary to Riga to discuss Theresa May's Chequers plan
THE CHANCES of the UK leaving the EU with a “no deal” Brexit are now 50-50 claims Latvia’s foreign minister ahead of his talks with Jeremy Hunt
Edgars Rinkēvičs gave his gloomy assessment as he prepared to welcome the Foreign Secretary to Riga to discuss Theresa May's Chequers plan.
He warned the remaining 27 countries in the bloc would not “split”, despite the UK’s concerted diplomatic push in recent weeks.
Mr Hunt’s visit is part of a strategy by the Prime Minister to get around the EU’s hard-line chief negotiator Michel Barnier and convince each separate country of the merits of her white paper.
She and her ministers have spoken to their counterparts in around a dozen countries, with mixed success, and Mr Hunt is due in in Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands in upcoming days.
Today Mr Rinkevics said “from our point of view, the EU is united at 27”.
And speaking to the BBC he added that there was a “very considerable risk" of a no-deal scenario - but stressed he remained optimistic a withdrawal agreement could be reached.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme the more detailed position laid out in Mrs May's Chequers plan "constitutes a good ground for really trying hard to reach a deal".
Mr Rinkevics said: "Frankly at this point, I would rate it 50-50... well, I think that 50-50 is a very considerable risk if that were to be, let's say, a 70-30 that we get a deal, I would be very satisfied.
“But of course, from our point of view, as you know, the EU is united at 27.”
He added: "We also are satisfied to see that there is (a) more detailed position of the British Government, that constitutes a good ground for really trying hard to reach a deal.
“So having said 50-50, I would say I'm remaining optimistic."
Mr Rinkevics said his country was "satisfied" with the preliminary agreement reached between the UK and the EU in relation to the rights of EU nationals.
He said: "I think that we are at a very critical point... I believe that both the EU and UK need to have extra effort to reach some kind of deal by October because I believe that it is in the best interests of both the UK and EU.”
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In response the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, a Brexit supporter, told the same programme there is a need to "re-double efforts" to make a deal.
He said: "None of us want no deal, none of us are working towards that, I think it would be damaging for both this country and the EU.
"We've got to re-double our efforts to make sure we reach the right agreement this autumn and that's why Theresa May has brought forward the Chequers proposals.
“They are not easy to sell in this country as we know, they are difficult for Brexiteers to accept.”
