Britain in vow over the border
BRITAIN has agreed to a legally binding ‘backstop solution’ to avoid a hard border by remaining in the European Union’s Customs Union if no other solution can be found.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said he was happy with the progress between the UK and EU in talks in Brussels yesterday.
A spokesman for Leo Varadkar said the backstop ‘is as legally firm as the Government said it would be in December’ when the Taoiseach described it as ‘bulletproof’.
THE United Kingdom has agreed to a legally binding ‘backstop’ solution to avoid a hard border with Ireland by effectively staying within the EU Customs Union if no other solution is found.
A deal on a 21-month transition period for the UK after the Brexit was enough to convince the British negotiating team to agree once again to the emergency backstop that will keep Northern Ireland aligned with the EU if no other border solutions are found.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the Irish Government was very happy with the progress and that the backstop was necessary ‘so we know there is a floor below which we cannot fall’.
But chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier has warned that the deal will only be legally binding if London ratifies the whole withdrawal treaty by March 2019.
‘A decisive step remains a step; we are not at the end of the road and there still remains a lot of work to be done, including on Ireland and Northern Ireland,’ he said.
Yesterday a spokesman for Leo Varadkar said the backstop ‘is as legally firm as the Government said it would be in December’ when it was described as ‘bulletproof’ by the Taoiseach.
‘The UK has today publicly accepted the need for such a backstop to be in the text of the [EU] withdrawal agreement. The backstop applies unless and until something better is agreed,’ he said.
‘The Taoiseach and his counterparts will decide on Friday if enough progress has been made to move on to the issue of the future relationship.’
While the UK committed to the backstop agreement in the December joint report, there has been a growing sense since then that they would not uphold it.
In the days after it was made, the UK’s lead negotiator David Davis claimed the agreement was ‘more of a statement of intent’ than a ‘legally enforceable thing’.
The European Commission seemed to agree, with spokesman Margaritis Schinas saying at the time: ‘Formally speaking, the joint report is not legally binding.’
Renewed concerns over whether the UK government would honour its commitment surfaced again last month when a leaked letter from Boris Johnson suggested that avoiding a hard border should not be his government’s Brexit priority.
But, in a bid to secure a formal political endorsement of the transition deal by EU leaders when they meet in Brussels on Friday, Mr Davis has agreed to put that same agreement on a legal footing.
‘We agree on the need to include legal text detailing the “backstop” solution for the border,’ Mr Davis told a joint news conference with Mr Barnier. ‘But it remains our intention to achieve a partnership that is so close as to not require specific measures in relation to Northern Ireland.’
The Tánaiste said that people will be able to see for themselves that Britain is committed to upholding the December agreement when the legal text is published tomorrow. ‘We’re happy with the Irish element of that,’ Mr Coveney remarked. ‘I think people will see for themselves when they see it on Wednesday. I think they will agree it’s an accurate reflection of what was agreed in December.’
He said the issue of the Irish border ‘isn’t being kicked into the long grass any more’.
‘What’s being said is they will now urgently engage to deal with this issue. Meetings have been scheduled as early as next week to start discussions on how it will be finalised and agreed,’ Mr Coveney added.
‘The progress of today from an Irish perspective is that we’re not kicking this into some date in the future. It’s going to be dealt with starting next week.’
Mr Coveney said there is an understanding that the an overall agreement will not be finalised without a ‘legally operational backstop in place.’
The Tánaiste said Ireland remains committed to Option A, which aims to avoid a hard border through a close free trade agreement, remains Irish priority but ‘we haven’t seen anything like an agreement that is comprehensive enough to do that’.
‘That is why we have insisted on having the backstop in place and the British negotiating team have agreed to ensure that that backstop is now in place, which I think will give a lot of reassurance to the Irish people and indeed a lot of British people who are living in Northern Ireland,’ he said.
Proposals on Option A will form part of the future relationship talks but Ireland has been seeking a solid commitment before those negotiations begin next month.
A spokesman for the Tánaiste said he was ‘absolutely’ satisfied that there is no room for the ‘backstop’ agreement to be fudged by the UK.
But the Democratic Unionist Party, which is underpinning Theresa May’s government in a confidence and supply agreement, have previously denounced the backstop option as unacceptable as it threatens
‘Meetings next week to sort it’
to bring Northern Ireland out of the UK. The British prime minister echoed this sentiment when she previously claimed the deal threatened ‘the constitutional integrity’ of the UK.
A DUP source said yesterday the party was not concerned as no deal had been done.
‘There is nothing from today’s announcement to concern us. The border issue has not been resolved at this stage and we didn’t expect it to be,’ the party source said. Like the British government, the DUP believes a close post-Brexit EU-British free trade deal will allow for an open border, rendering the backstop unnecessary.’
In a statement the party said the EU’s backstop scenario remained ‘totally unacceptable’.
‘Work continues on the issues around the border in the coming months,’ the statement said
Meanwhile Fianna Fáil warned that yesterday’s deal was ‘a worrying retrograde step on the North and a potential hard border’. Brexit spokesman Stephen Donnelly said there was a gulf between the EU and the UK on their understanding of what the backstop means.
‘I am worried that attempts are being made by the British negotiators to nominally agree to certain provisions on the border in the hope of moving on to trade negotiations, which are their main concern as far as I can see,’ he said.
‘The idea of a hard border is deeply worrying and concerning to the people of Ireland, north and south. A backstop to avoid it ever being implemented on our island needs absolute certainty and support from both sides.
‘The old adage that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” has never been so true. Based on the response before Christmas from the DUP and the Tory hard Brexiteers, I am wary of any agreement that relies exclusively on a hard border backstop provision,’ he added.
‘Hard border is deeply worrying’