Ireland is a big stumbling block to December Brexit deal

UK Prime Minister Theresa May was humiliated on Monday when a draft deal she brokered with European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker on the Irish border issue was rejected by the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which is propping up her government. With the December Brexit deadlines set by the EU-27 set to expire this week, Mrs May has just a few days to find a way a solution for this vexed issue.

She had reportedly been prepared today to accept that Northern Ireland may remain in the EU's Customs Union and Single Market in all but name - so-called regulatory convergence with the Republic of Ireland. This would have fulfilled the demand of Dublin for a written guarantee that there will be no return to a "hard border", but went too far for the DUP in Belfast which is concerned with being seen to separate from the rest of the UK (England, Scotland and Wales) which looks likely to leave the Single Market and Customs Union.

At stake with this Irish issue is the critical question of whether second-phase Brexit talks on the future UK-EU relationship can begin after the mid-December session meeting, the final big political calendar event of the EU political year. Or, if not, potentially be kicked out several months into 2018.