YES WE CAN!
Brexit deal IS possible by Halloween, says Taoiseach after his three-hour showdown summit with PM Boris Johnson
AFTER a three-hour crunch Brexit summit with Boris Johnson, Leo Varadkar believes there could be a ‘pathway towards an agreement in the coming weeks’. With just 20 days to go until Britain is due to leave the EU, hopes of avoiding a crash-out Brexit were raised yesterday, after the Taoiseach and prime minister met in a country house close to Liverpool.
This had been widely viewed as a lastditch attempt to bring the negotiations back from the brink.
Downing Street had been keen to keep the venue a secret, but the information
soon became public and protesters arrived. However, their anger did not match the positive spirit inside at the talks, and when speaking to the media at the airport after their engagement, the Taoiseach appeared cautiously optimistic, as he said: ‘I do see a pathway towards an agreement in the coming weeks.’
However, he added that it was ‘a very sensitive issue’ that is at a ‘very sensitive stage’, and said he could not go into too much detail. However, he hinted heavily that some degree of progress had been made.
He said: ‘I think sometimes at this point in negotiations or discussions, the less said the better. But, what I can say is that I had a very good meeting today with the prime minister, and our teams together – very positive and very promising.’
The mood music coming from Downing Street yesterday evening was also warm, as the Taoiseach and prime minister issued a joint statement after the high-level summit, and described it as a ‘detailed and constructive discussion’.
It said: ‘Both continue to believe a deal is in everybody’s interest. They agreed that they could see a pathway to a possible deal. Their discussions concentrated on the challenges of customs and consent.’ Although the Taoiseach declined to go in to the detail of what was discussed, he told reporters at John Lennon Airport that he didn’t think ‘this should be seen in the context of who’s making concessions, or who the winners and losers are’.
While nobody was prepared to state publicly what had changed, it is thought there was some movement or progress in the area of customs.
One possible theory is that the North becomes a dual EU/UK customs zone. Under this plan, goods moving from North to south or vice versa would have EU customs applied and move freely. Goods going from the North to the UK or vice versa would go through a ‘Green Channel’, meaning no practical border in the Irish Sea; goods travelling from Britain to Ireland via the North would go through a ‘Red Channel’ at which customs would be applied. Spot checks could then be applied anywhere on either side of the Irish Sea. This arrangement could also be subject to an ‘opt-out’ vote at Stormont, lessening fears of a unionist veto.
The Irish Daily Mail understands that at least one official from Britain’s Revenue and Customs was on hand at the Wirral countryside meeting location yesterday.
This surprisingly positive turn comes just one week after hopes of an orderly scenario were dashed, when London presented its alternative backstop proposals to Brussels.
The Mail understands that the Taoiseach and prime minister met individually for a chunk of the time before they were joined by officials. It was also indicated that good progress was made on the issues of consent, customs and on a post-Brexit AngloIrish relationship.
Mr Varadkar, who took questions from reporters in a separate location by himself afterwards, said he was ‘now absolutely convinced that both Ireland and Britain want there to be an agreement that’s in the interests of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the European Union as a whole’.
He added: ‘And I do see a pathway towards an agreement in the coming
‘There are issues yet to be resolved’
weeks.’ However, he continued: ‘There are of course issues yet to be fully resolved.
‘The first is the issue of consent and democracy, ensuring that any long-term arrangement that applies to Northern Ireland has the consent of the people of Northern Ireland.
‘The second is the whole issue of customs, ensuring that there is no customs border between North and south. And also, we’d a good discussion, looking forward to how relationships might look after Brexit, how we can strengthen cooperation North and south, economically and politically, and also between Britain and Ireland.
‘So next steps, of course, are for the United Kingdom government to engage with the European Commission. We expect that will happen [today], with a meeting involving Stephen Barclay and Michel Barnier, and also we will need to consult and engage with the commission as well.
‘But what I would hope is that what’s happened today will be sufficient to allow negotiations to resume in Brussels.’
While Britain is due to leave on October 31, it had been hoped significant progress would be made in advance of the European Council Summit on October 17 and 18 in order to finalise a deal there. Due to developments in recent weeks, doubts had been cast about this as both Dublin and Brussels said the alternative proposals from the UK could not form the basis for an agreement.
However, there are hopes that some progress can be made today after Mr Barnier meets Mr Barclay. In terms of a timeline of the pathway he referred to, the Taoiseach said: ‘I can’t predict that with any certainty, but I think all sides would like there to be an agreement – next week at the council if possible, and obviously there’s a further deadline after that, which is October 31, so I would say a short pathway rather a long one, but it’s impossible to predict that for sure.’
He continued: ‘What this is about is securing an agreement that works for the people of Ireland and also the people of Britain and Europe. And if it works for the people of Ireland, what it means is avoiding a hard border between North and south. That’s always been our primary objective,
ensuring that the all-island economy can continue to develop and that North-south cooperation, as envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, can resume – those are our objectives. And this has always been about achieving those objectives and I think today, they can be achieved.’
Asked about his reference to a short pathway and if he meant before the end of October, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I think it is possible for us to come to an agreement, to have a treaty agreed to allow the UK to leave the EU in an orderly fashion, and to have that done by the end of October, but there is many a slip between cup and lip and lots of things that are not in my control.’