歐盟稱英國脫歐協議“觸手可及”但仍未完成

The European Union's Brexit negotiator said Wednesday that an agreement on Britain's exit ``is within reach'' if negotiations make progress ahead of a summit next week.

Michel Barnier said that up to 85 percent of the work on a deal is done but that the issue remains of how to ensure a transparent border on the island of Ireland.

He offered suggestions to make sure border checks are be kept to a minimum. Yet he also warned that some British proposals as they stood would give the U.K. too much of a competitive trade advantage.

With good will from both sides, he said, "agreement is within reach if we have the negotiations on the 17th of October," when Theresa May will meet her 27 counterparts in Brussels.

EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters Wednesday that Barnier and his team "are working day and night to reach a deal."

Britain is to leave the EU on March 29 and the possibility of there being no deal on future relations – particularly trade – is worrying businesses and politicians.

As part of the EU, Britain benefits from seamless trade with the bloc, its biggest trading partner. And the question is how to let Britain exit the EU without too much disruption to trade and without reinstalling a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland.歐盟脫歐談判代表週三表示，如果談判在下週的峯會前取得進展，與英國達成脫歐協議將“觸手可及”。

歐盟談判代表巴尼耶表示，協議中高達85％的部分已經完成，但如何確保愛爾蘭邊境透明的問題仍懸而未決。

他建議確保將邊境檢查站保持在最低限度。不過他也警告說，英國的一些現行提議將給英國帶來太大的貿易競爭優勢。

他說，雙方都有良好的意願，“如果我們在十月十七日進行談判，協議將觸手可及”。英國首相梅將於那時到布魯塞爾參加與其他27名首腦的峯會。

歐盟委員會委員阿夫拉莫普洛斯週三告訴記者，巴尼耶和他的團隊“正在爲達成協議日夜工作。”

英國將於明年3月29日脫離歐盟，而雙方對未來的關係，尤其是貿易方面 ，無法達成協議的可能性令企業和政界人士擔憂。

作爲歐盟的一部分，英國與歐盟這個最大的貿易伙伴之間的貿易毫無障礙。問題是如何讓英國退出歐盟的同時不d對其貿易造成太大幹擾，也不會在愛爾蘭共和國與英國的北愛爾蘭之間重新建立一個硬邊界。