Jean-Claude Juncker: Brexit deal now more likely

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA – SEPTEMBER 20: Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, speaks to the media at the conclusion of the summit of leaders of the European Union on September 20, 2018 in Salzburg, Austria. Moments earlier European Council President Donald Tusk expressed doubt over the United Kingdom’s proposal regarding its Brexit negotiations. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said developments in the past few days have made a Brexit deal more likely.

“I have reason to think that the potential for rapprochement between both sides has increased in recent days,” Juncker said in an interview with three Austrian newspapers published Saturday.

Juncker said he wasn’t sure a deal would be finalized by October at the EU summit, but “if not, we’ll do it in November.”

“I assume that we will reach agreement on the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement,” he continued, reiterating that he didn’t believe a no-deal Brexit outcome would be good for either the EU or the U.K.

Juncker said he has “a lot of understanding” for people who are skeptical of the EU, stating: “I am not free from Euroskepticism sometimes.”

But he also said he is “not on the way to fundamental opposition” of the bloc.

When asked whether he believed Brexit could be stopped, Juncker said it was a matter for the British government and parliament. “I do not interfere in inner cabinet debates in the U.K.,” he said. “There is enough confusion [there].”

However, the Commission president said there’s one part of British society he won’t be sad to see go — the British press. “I will not miss it,” he said.