Coveney will meet Barnier to talk Brexit guarantees

TÁNAISTE Simon Coveney will meet the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Brussels today to discuss the legal translation of December’s ‘backstop’ agreement.

The agreement, in which the UK promised to maintain regulatory alignment with the EU if necessary to avoid a hard border, is due to be published on Wednesday.

Critics of the deal have said it is a fudge that does not offer the protections Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described as ‘bulletproof’ when it was announced last year.

A spokesman for the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs said: ‘This week will be a significant one in the ongoing Brexit negotiations with the translation into legal text of what was agreed in December, including the backstop arrangements or Option C, in terms of the guarantee of avoiding a hard border.

‘Our team has worked closely with the Task Force to ensure there will be no slippage following the deal agreed in December. Despite the efforts of some to distract from that, we are fully satisfied that Ireland’s concerns will be effectively addressed. All of this will be seen over the coming days.’

The Government’s first preference is to resolve these issues by ensuring the closest possible future relationship between the EU and the UK after Brexit.

This is described as Option A in the December agreement.

British prime minister Theresa May asked the Taoiseach for help in that regard when she met with him and the Tánaiste in Stormont two weeks ago. Mrs May is due to set out what her cabinet has agreed on the UK’s future economic relationship with the EU in a speech on Friday.

The spokesman for the Tánaiste said: ‘In that regard, we are also looking forward to the remarks by British prime minister Theresa May later this week.

‘We hope the UK is ambitious in the relationship it seeks and also shows awareness of the responsibilities that come with that kind of close partnership.’

Tomorrow, Mr Coveney will also attend a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, who will discuss the Middle East peace process and developments in Moldova and Venezuela.