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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday that there was "enormous progress" towards an agreement with the EU on Brexit, and compared the United Kingdom with the superhero Hulk, able to free himself from any obstacle, the eve of meeting (the Monday) with European leaders.

"When I came to this position, everyone said that no change in the withdrawal agreement was possible" in the EU, says the prime minister in an interview with The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"But EU leaders changed their minds and there is a very, very good conversation going on on how to address the issues of the Norwegian border." "There are huge advances underway," says Johnson.

The EU is still waiting for "concrete proposals," said a European official close to the negotiations on Sunday.

The border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is the main obstacle in the Brexit talks.

The so-called "Irish safeguard" ( backstop ), designed to prevent the reinstatement of a physical border between the two territories, generates a great controversy, and was largely the reason why British deputies rejected the negotiated exit treaty three times by Theresa May, forcing her resignation as head of government.

It is a solution of last resort that would only come into force if, after a transition period provided for in the agreement, London and Brussels do not agree on a better solution, and that would create a "single customs territory", which would encompass the EU and to the United Kingdom, which would limit London's ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries.

London rejects this solution, which is inevitable according to Brussels in the absence of a credible alternative.

Hulk "always escapes"

"There is a lot of work ahead and until October 17," when EU leaders will meet for a final summit before the UK leaves the block, Johnson said. "But I'm going to that summit and I'm going to get an agreement, I'm very confident," he said.

However, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was much less optimistic and said Friday that the gap between London and Brussels remained "very wide."

The EU chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, who declared "having no reason to be optimistic" about the chances of reaching an agreement before the European council that starts on October 17 in Brussels, is also skeptical.

Before that summit, Johnson will meet on Monday in Luxembourg with the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and with Barnier himself.

In the interview with The Mail on Sunday, Johnson also compared the United Kingdom with the superhero Hulk. "The more Hulk gets angry, the stronger he becomes, and he always escapes, even if he seems to be tightly bound, as is the case in this country," he said. "We will leave on October 31 [...] believe me," he added.

A comparison described as "puerile" by the liberal Guy Verhofstadt, a reference for Brexit in the European Parliament. "Is the EU supposed to be afraid?" He tweeted.

Johnson's position continues to get complicated in the British Parliament. This Saturday, another member of his Conservative Party , Sam Gyimah, defected and joined the Liberal-Democrats, pro-Europeans.

Last week, 21 conservative deputies supported the parliamentary opposition to force the Johnson executive to request a postponement of Brexit until January.

According to former Prime Minister David Cameron (2010-2016), Johnson is far from being a convinced "brexiter." In excerpts from his memoirs published this Sunday in the Sunday Times, Cameron accuses him of "populism" and defending Brexit solely for opportunism and to advance his political career.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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