Emmanuel Macron's top ally in Brussels urges Boris Johnson to intervene in Brexit talks

Boris Johnson has been urged to intervene in Brexit talks by Emmanuel Macron’s top ally in Brussels, amid fears that negotiators have run out of road ahead of a key summit this week.

EU officials believe a political intervention is needed to break the deadlock on the biggest issues of fisheries and regulations – where the two sides have barely moved closer since the start of the year.

With just a week left of negotiating time, pressure is mounting for a second "Cheshire moment" – a reference to when Mr Johnson and former Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar finally broke the deadlock on Brexit talks last year with a private stroll in the gardens of a remote country house.

Macron ally Dacian Cioloș, the former Romanian prime minister who now leads the French president's liberal "Renew" group in the European Parliament, urged the prime minister to "step up" and get personally involved.

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of activity in London and Brussels, with teams on both sides shuttling back and forth on otherwise empty Eurostar trains during the pandemic.

Despite reports of promising progress on side issues, the politically-charged questions of the so-called "level playing field" and whether EU fleets will have access to British waters have proven intractable with the current mandates.

Adopting a cricket metaphor for the benefit of Mr Johnson, a notable fan of the sport, Macron-ally Mr Cioloș told The Independent:

"A Brexit deal is in everyone’s interests, but it can’t come at any cost. Time is short, but the British are known for their pragmatism, now it's up to Boris Johnson to decide if he really wants to step up to the crease and clinch this deal."

Brexit will back on the agenda for the first time in months when EU leaders meet on Thursday and Friday in Brussels. Mr Johnson had previously said the UK would walk out of talks if no deal had been done before the meeting, but EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is understood to be pushing for an extension up to the end of the month.  

The French president Mr Macron spoke to Mr Johnson himself by telephone over the weekend, where the two sides "set out the latest state of play in the negotiations", according to Downing Street.

The prime minister is said to have told Mr Macron that the "significant gaps" to be bridged "in the coming days" had to be made "through the process of intensive talks between chief negotiators agreed with the president of the European Commission" – apparently ruling out a personal intervention.

Mr Macron has kept half an eye on talks. He last visited London in June for a largely ceremonial visit, where Mr Johnson told him he saw little point in arguing into the autumn over a deal.

While both sides say a deal needs to be done well in advance of the end of the transition on 31 December to give time for it to be ratified, they differ slightly on exactly when. 

Mr Johnson has said this week’s summit is his deadline, but the European Parliament has said it can work with an agreement struck up until the end of the month. If talks are extended, these two weeks are likely to be the crucial space in which a deal can be done.