With only six months to go until Britain leaves the European Union, the most recent round of talks broke up without any progress on the biggest issues surrounding the Brexit.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May went to the EU summit in Salzburg, Austria with the "Chequers" proposal, named after the PM's country residence where top members of the Conservative Party drew up the plan on how to maintain trade and diplomatic ties with Europe. 

But European Council President Donald Tusk rubbished the proposal as cherry-picking the parts the UK wants.

"Everybody shared the view that while there are positive elements in the (UK) proposal, the suggested framework for economic cooperation will not work, not least because it risks undermining the single market," said Mr. Tusk.

"Europe isn't an a la carte menu," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

But UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that her plan was the only "serious and credible" one on the table - but the fact remains that Chequers has now been rejected by some members of May's own Tory party, Labour, and now Europe.

There is still no agreement on key issues, including how to avoid new checks on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and how to handle future trade.  And with time running out, European leaders are making plans to weathering a "hard Brexit".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the EU had "made more preparations for a no deal".  Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar added that his government was making large-scale preparations for the event of a "No Deal Brexit."