Strasbourg: The European Union's two top officials handling troublesome Brexit negotiations warned Wednesday that the risk of a no-deal exit looms large unless Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government offers concrete proposals. "The risk of a no deal remains very real. That will maybe be the choice of the United Kingdom but never the choice of the European Union," European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The warning came two days after Juncker and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met in Luxembourg for talks, just six weeks before Britain is set to exit the bloc. That trip ended in humiliation for Johnson after he avoided what was meant to be a joint press conference with his Luxembourg counterpart, put-off by a small anti-Brexit protest nearby. Juncker emphasised the UK still has not offered any viable solutions to rewrite a withdrawal agreement struck by Johnson's predecessor but rejected three times by the British parliament.