European Commission makes ‘important offer’ to Britain on Brexit – Merkel

The European Union’s executive commission has made an “important offer” to Britain to unblock an impasse over the UK’s withdrawal agreement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. British lawmakers’ opposition to the deal centers on concerns over arrangements for the Irish border. The EU refuses to reopen the agreement after long negotiations. Merkel said in Berlin on Monday it was “very welcome” that Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier made “a multitude of suggestions” over the weekend on how to define the “backstop” which is intended to remove the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland, AP reports. “I think that an important offer has again been made to Britain, and now it is of course for Britain to respond to these offers,” Merkel added.