Boris Johnson to hold Brexit talks with EU's Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday
ADVERTISEMENTBoris Johnson is to meet with outgoing European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday, Downing Street confirmed to Euronews.
Downing Street said the meeting would be on a "range of issues" including following up on meetings that the prime minister's Brexit envoy, David Frost, had this week.
In a speech on Friday, Johnson said he was "cautiously optimistic" he would get a new deal with the EU and said they had a "rough shape of a deal" in place.
But the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, said after a meeting with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday that the UK had not proposed "any alternatives" to the backstop issue.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Euronews earlier this week, Juncker said that Brexit was "the failure of Britain, not the European Union".
He also said the British did not want to share all the policies of the EU, branding them "part-time Europeans".
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Brexit has been at the forefront of international news headlines over the past few weeks, as a showdown in the UK's parliament earlier this week saw Johnson lose his majority in parliament and his control over the Brexit process.
Opposition MPs and rebel conservatives voted to pass legislation that would force Johnson to ask the European Union for an extension of the October 31st deadline in the event that a deal is not reached by October 19th.
Those who passed the legislation said they suspected Johnson had made little progress in talks with the EU and said he seemed poised to take the UK out of the bloc without a deal.
READ MORE: A summary of Boris Johnson's terrible week in parliament
Juncker's chief spokesperson Mina Andreeva tweeted that the leaders would have a "working lunch" in Luxembourg. The Commission president's deputy chief spokesperson, Natasha Bertaud, said at a press briefing that the meeting was agreed "by common accord".
The location of Luxembourg was chosen as Juncker has to go straight to Strasbourg after the meeting.
Bertaud did not specify where it would take place but said it would be a "neutral location".
Afterwards, Johnson will meet with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.