⁍ German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had no breakthrough to announce on Friday as a week of EU talks with Britain ended.

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⁍ Her words were echoed by Britain’s chief negotiator, David Frost.

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⁍ Both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU have set a mid-October goal for reaching a trade agreement.

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– British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to meet Saturday with the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator in an attempt to break the logjam over Britain’s future relations with the EU. The Guardian reports that Johnson will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to try to hammer out a trade deal that keeps Britain in the bloc’s customs union. The main sticking point is how to ensure there’s no hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and Ireland, which is part of the EU. Britain is due to leave the EU in March, and the EU has until the end of the year to reach an agreement on the terms of that departure and the future relations between it and the rest of the bloc. On Friday, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that while progress had been made in some areas, “serious divergences” remained in other areas, including on state aid and fisheries, reports Reuters. He said talks would continue until the end of the month. “I can’t announce a breakthrough,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks among 27 EU leaders in Brussels. “As long as negotiations on Brexit are ongoing, I’m optimistic.” Britain’s Frost again appealed to the EU to show more “realism and flexibility.” Johnson will speak to the head of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, on Saturday to agree next steps after the EU launched a legal case against Britain over moving to undercut their Brexit divorce treaty.