EUROPEAN Union leaders will discuss preparations for the potential collapse of trade talks with the United Kingdom when they hold a summit later this week after France dug in, questioning whether it could hold Boris Johnson’s government to any agreement.

The bloc’s 27 national leaders will assemble in Brussels on Thursday — the same day the prime minister has threatened to walk away if he considers a deal to be unlikely. With an accord hanging in the balance, the chiefs will review their contingency plans, according to officials in Brussels.

They will also consider the need for stringent, legally binding dispute-resolution mechanisms in any deal after being stung by the United Kingdom’s announcement last month that it would unilaterally rewrite parts of the Brexit divorce agreement. The move has stoked distrust of Johnson in EU capitals, adding a further obstacle to any accord.

“We do want to trust the United Kingdom, but what we have seen in the last weeks regarding the Withdrawal Agreement is extremely worrying,” French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told reporters Monday. “It’s a matter of how the United Kingdom is a partner of trust in the years to come.”(SD-Agencies)