• It's difficult to see how we can arrive at a legally operative solution which fulfills all the objectives of the backstop.
• The "backstop" is intended to guarantee no hard border between EU member Ireland and the UK's province of Northern Ireland and to protect the EU's single market.

"Based on current UK thinking, it's difficult to see how we can arrive at a legally operative solution which fulfills all the objectives of the backstop," said Barnier in Berlin after talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

The "backstop" is intended to guarantee no hard border between EU member Ireland and the UK's province of Northern Ireland and to protect the EU's single market.