Prime minister Theresa May and Commission president Jean Claude Juncker have jointly pledged to continue with urgency their “constructive” discussion on Brexit. Following their meeting here in a joint statement they “urged their respective teams to continue to explore the options in a positive spirit”. And they discussed “whether additions or changes to the political declaration can be made that are consistent with the EU and UK government positions”. Notably, there was no reference in the statement to any question of reopening the withdrawal agreement. UK chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed late on Tuesday that the government no longer intended to pursue alternative arrangements for the backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

Source: The Irish Times February 20, 2019 21:00 UTC