UK soft border proposal ‘won’t wash with EU’
Tánaiste Coveney slaps down May’s scheme but welcomes her bid to get talks under way
THERESA May’s claim that her government can ensure the continuation of a soft border on the island of Ireland is likely to be rejected by the EU, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has warned.
The British prime minister has committed to leaving the EU Customs Union which guarantees tariff-free trade, but insists that a hard border can be avoided with technology and by not placing any new restrictions on the 80% of cross-frontier trade carried out by smaller businesses.
But Mr Coveney told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday that he was ‘not sure that the European Union will be able to support’ the plan, as it would be worried about protecting the integrity of the Single Market.
But he added: ‘Of course, we will explore and look at all of the proposed British solutions, they are essentially a starting point in negotiations as opposed to an end point.’
He also warned that if agreement cannot be reached in tripartite talks between the UK, Ireland and the EU Commission, the backstop plan of full British alignment with Customs Union and Single Market rules would have to apply. He said Mrs May had ‘committed clearly’ to that in December.
‘This isn’t a question of either side wanting to put up borders, but if you have to protect a functioning Single Market, just the same way Britain wants to protect its own single market, well then you have to understand that if goods move from one Customs Union to another then there needs to be some checks, unless there is some mechanism that is negotiated,’ he said. Mrs May told the same programme she was pleased that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had agreed to form the three-way talks. They will take place in Brussels.
She said: ‘I think the Irish border is something to which we are all committed – us, the Irish Government, all the parties in Northern Ireland, making sure there’s no hard border for the future.
‘That’s why I’m pleased that with the Commission and the Irish Government, we’ll be able to sit down and in a very much more detailed sense say about the proposals we’ve put forward, how would they work? Let’s see which is the best option for the future.’
Education Minister Richard Bruton yesterday said that he was happy that the EU has rightly said that the Phase One agreement from last December, which saw Britain agree to the ‘backstop’ if other proposals don’t succeed, has to be outlined in a legal text.
He said that in a speech on Friday, the British prime minister had ‘narrowed the range of areas in which they are seeking to deviate, and she was very supportive of the Good Friday Agreement, after a number of Tory politicians had suggested otherwise’.
He added: ‘But there remain inconsistencies. On agriculture, for example, she talked of Britain wanting to have their own quotas and tariffs with third countries. And yet she wants to maintain the north-south relationship on agriculture. It is very difficult to see how she can reconcile those positions.
‘It’s hard to understand how Britain hasn’t developed a clear view of where they want to go. She talks of wanting to be different on external tariffs with third countries on agriculture and to deviate from the digital market. She wants to maintain regulatory convergence in most other areas. The Single Market has certain rights and responsibilities and she wants to pick and choose between them. That is the difficulty Europe will continue to have. The one thing we can say is that we now have a detailed EU text on the table, and Britain will have to respond.’
Mr Bruton added: ‘The truth is that negotiations will occur between Britain and the EU 27, and we are part of the 27. Obviously, they are trying to tactically organise their position. It is not the case that Ireland are going to be broken off by the 27.
‘The 27 are four-square behind us, and that means that the backstop remains.’
Not sure the EU can support it 27 four-square behind us