Saturday, November 18, 2017
Is Ireland an insurmountable obstacle to a Brexit deal?
Just how difficult disengaging ourselves from the EU will be has come into stark contrast this week with Ireland's determination to block any deal that puts up physical or other barriers on their border with the North.
As the Guardian records, Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar,has said that he will not be prepared to back progress of the Brexit negotiations to trade talks at the summit in December without a formal written guarantee there will be no hard border in Ireland. Britain:
Varadkar’s warning was the most blunt, though the EU is likely to take the lead from Ireland when it assesses whether enough genuine progress has been made on the issue of the border with Northern Ireland, one of the three key topics which must be agreed before talks progress to trade.
“We’ve been given assurances that there will be no hard border in Ireland, that there won’t be any physical infrastructure, that we won’t go back to the borders of the past,” Varadkar said before his meeting with May. “We want that written down in practical terms in the conclusions of phase one.”
Leaving the summit several hours later, Varadkar said he was not satisfied with the progress. “After 40 years of marriage, most of them good, now Britain wants a divorce, but an open relationship the day after,” he told Sky News. “We have heard now for 18 months … that the UK does not want a hard border in Ireland. But after 18 months of the right language we need to understand how that can be achieved in law.”
“We don’t have a counter-proposal from the UK government yet which makes any sense, but we would certainly welcome one,” he said.
Earlier at the summit, Varadkar was scathing about UK politicians who had backed Brexit: “It’s 18 months since the referendum. It’s 10 years since people who wanted a referendum started agitating for one. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like they have thought all this through.”
The issue of course is not just about physical infrastructure. Any barrier to trade such as differences in regulatory standards could be considered to be a problem.
This is going to be an issue that will task even the most malleable of negotiators and it will certainly threaten the Northern Ireland peace settlement. The Brexiteers cannot say they were not warned.
As the Guardian records, Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar,has said that he will not be prepared to back progress of the Brexit negotiations to trade talks at the summit in December without a formal written guarantee there will be no hard border in Ireland. Britain:
Varadkar’s warning was the most blunt, though the EU is likely to take the lead from Ireland when it assesses whether enough genuine progress has been made on the issue of the border with Northern Ireland, one of the three key topics which must be agreed before talks progress to trade.
“We’ve been given assurances that there will be no hard border in Ireland, that there won’t be any physical infrastructure, that we won’t go back to the borders of the past,” Varadkar said before his meeting with May. “We want that written down in practical terms in the conclusions of phase one.”
Leaving the summit several hours later, Varadkar said he was not satisfied with the progress. “After 40 years of marriage, most of them good, now Britain wants a divorce, but an open relationship the day after,” he told Sky News. “We have heard now for 18 months … that the UK does not want a hard border in Ireland. But after 18 months of the right language we need to understand how that can be achieved in law.”
“We don’t have a counter-proposal from the UK government yet which makes any sense, but we would certainly welcome one,” he said.
Earlier at the summit, Varadkar was scathing about UK politicians who had backed Brexit: “It’s 18 months since the referendum. It’s 10 years since people who wanted a referendum started agitating for one. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like they have thought all this through.”
The issue of course is not just about physical infrastructure. Any barrier to trade such as differences in regulatory standards could be considered to be a problem.
This is going to be an issue that will task even the most malleable of negotiators and it will certainly threaten the Northern Ireland peace settlement. The Brexiteers cannot say they were not warned.
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Always remember, anyone blocking or veto-ing the deal means we leave with no deal.
Ireland will not obstruct any deal as the UK leaving with no deal would absolutely destroy Ireland's economy which still hasn't recovered from 2008
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Ireland will not obstruct any deal as the UK leaving with no deal would absolutely destroy Ireland's economy which still hasn't recovered from 2008
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