Tusk to ask May for better border idea
President of the European Council Donald Tusk is to ask Theresa May for "a better idea that would be as effective in preventing a hard border" on the "island of Ireland".
The British prime minister rejected the EU's proposals on Northern Ireland saying they would split the UK in two.
But the European Council president said one of the "possible negative consequences" of the kind of Brexit Mrs May wants would be a hard border.
The two are to meet later ahead of a big Brexit speech on Friday by Mrs May. May, due to chair a meeting of the cabinet before her talks with Mr Tusk, has already pledged not to accept the draft withdrawal treaty published on Wednesday by the EU.
The UK and the EU both agree on wanting to avoid a return to a physical border - with border posts and checks - in Northern Ireland. The UK has suggested new IT systems could be introduced to avoid the need for physical border checks but has yet to spell out how this would work in practice.
But the draft EU treaty also includes the option of a "common regulatory area" after Brexit on the island of Ireland - in effect keeping Northern Ireland in a customs union - if no other solution is found. Both the EU and the Irish government say it is up to the UK to come up with concrete alternatives to what they describe as a "backstop" option.
May said the EU proposal would "threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK" by creating a border down the Irish Sea.
But in a speech in Brussels, Tusk said he was "absolutely sure that all the essential elements of the draft" would be accepted by the 27 remaining EU members. And he said May's decision to rule out membership of the single market and customs union had been acknowledged "without enthusiasm and without satisfaction".
