‘The British would see it as bullying by another country’
minister and the British government have been very clear and very blunt that they are leaving on the 31st of March and that’s it. Only they are the ones who can decide that they are willing to stay in longer. It’s not really for us to make those decisions for them.’
And the Taoiseach said he thought the offer of more time to negotiate a deal could actually be seen as ‘bullying’ in Britain.
‘I think it would backfire. I think it would be seen as interference or bossiness or bullying from another country then.’
The Taoiseach was speaking in Rome as part of a mini-tour of Croatia, Romania and Italy to shore up support for the Irish position in the EU-UK negotiations, particularly the focus on avoiding a hard border with Northern Ireland.
His insistence that Britain alone would have to ask the EU for more time – something which
€43bn divorce bill ‘agreed for good’
many believe would be politically impossible for any UK prime minister, even if a delay would be the preferred option – came as Brexit negotiations suffered a serious setback yesterday when the EU’s chief negotiator dismissed much of Theresa May’s Chequers proposals.
Yesterday Michel Barnier flatly rejecting her ‘facilitated customs arrangement’ that would see the UK to collect certain customs duties on the EU’s behalf.
Appearing alongside Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab following talks in Brussels, Mr Barnier said: ‘The EU cannot and...will not delegate the application of its customs policy and rules and VAT and excises duty collection to a non-member who would not be subject to the EU’s governance structures.’ Any customs arrangement or union ‘must respect this principle’, he said.
Mr Raab signalled he is looking for compromise from Brussels in response to Mrs May’s White Paper, noting the EU was able to take an ‘innovative’ approach ‘when the political will has been there’.
And he appeared to be making an attempt to separate the issue of the Irish border from the rest of the Withdrawal Agreement, repeatedly referring to a ‘protocol’ on Northern Ireland.
Mr Barnier also bluntly rebuffed Mr Raab’s suggestion the UK might tear up its promise to pay a €43billion ‘divorce bill’ unless it got a good deal on future trade.
Mr Barnier told him that, while the commitment to a financial settlement made by Mrs May in December was not yet in its final legal form, the 27 remaining EU members and European Parliament regard it as ‘agreed for good’.
He made clear that Brussels has reservations about Mrs May’s proposed ‘backstop’ arrangement for the Irish border, which would see the whole UK matching EU trade tariffs for a period if a trade deal is not reached by 2021. ‘We have no objection in principle to this but we have doubts that it can be done without putting at risk the integrity of our Customs Union or commercial policy or regulatory policy,’ said Mr Barnier.
The Chequers agreement has been studied ‘carefully’ and there are some areas of ‘common ground’, he said.
‘There are other points on which we have a problem because they contradict, they clash with, the European Council guidelines,’ Mr Barnier added.
‘They contradict my clear negotiating guidelines. Indivisibility of the four freedoms, the integrity of the single market, these are key points.’ emmajane.hade@dailymail.ie