Juncker told Sky News on Sunday the EU has to “make sure that the interests of the European Union and of the internal market will be preserved.”

Brexit negotiators have spent two years looking at alternatives to the backstop insurance policy to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and have not found any that work, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday.

British Parliament is widely expected to reject Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal in a vote on Tuesday.