An agreement or not with the UK will not be in question at this week's European Council summit.
A senior European Union (EU) official said that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen may have briefed EU leaders and governments on the status of post-Brexit trade agreement talks with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
However, the leaders will not discuss the matter, let alone choose to agree on any potential agreement.
Any tentative agreement reached by von der Leyen or his chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, must be unanimously agreed by all 27 EU member states and must be ratified by the European and British parliaments.
Officials have warned that time is running out for a rigorous valuation process before the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December.
Despite the pressure of time, the senior official said that EU leaders did not want their summit agenda to be interrupted by the Brexit issue.
They will reportedly discuss the coronavirus outbreak crisis, disputes over legal mechanisms that have halted the € 1.82 trillion budget package and recovery as well as a number of other issues.
Meanwhile, during talks on Wednesday, PM Johnson and von der Leyen had agreed to set December 13 (Sunday) as the deadline to decide on the future of trade negotiations.
