Summary

Thursday marked the final day of an informal EU summit meant to clear the path for a final agreement ahead of the UK’s 2019 exit from the EU.

It comes amid a now-familiar din of upheaval within the UK Conservative Party, with Prime Minister Theresa May pushing a newly agreed upon “Chequers plan” to secure ongoing access to the EU single market and the Brexit wing of the party demanding she “chuck Chequers” and accept the reality of a hard Brexit.

On the other side of the negotiating table there’s a slew of EU leaders who remain unconvinced, led by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who roundly panned the Chequers framework in his recent state of the union speech.

The Salzburg summit failed to produce a breakthrough, but did produce a final deadline: the EU Council meeting on October 18. In the words of EC President Donald Trump, that will be the “moment of truth” for the long odyssey of Brexit negotiations.

But with the Tory party conference looming, will PM May be out of the job by then?