UK CAN’T BE ALLOWED TO STALL MOMENT OF TRUTH ANY MORE
DIPLOMATS employ the term ‘useful’ in the context of describing international discussions in the same way casualty doctors apply the term “comfortable” to road crash patients. It was used by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday to characterise his fruitless engagement with Theresa May in Salzburg.
The bleak truth is the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states agreed the UK government’s Chequers blueprint for Brexit will not work.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was also on message: Brexit is a “damage-limitation exercise” for everyone involved, a “lose, lose, lose” situation.
If the process has been reduced to a game of who is the biggest loser, we should be in no doubt: this country is in pole position.
And every day that passes piles further pressure on Ireland. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern – a man with unrivalled experience in negotiations – has warned that we must not allow the British to “push and shove” us into a future relationship without nailing down arrangements on the Border. It would be a “disaster” to allow the UK to move to discussing a final outcome until we have “absolute agreement on what happens on January 1, 2021”, said Mr Ahern on RTÉ.
A seamless border with the North still in the customs union with no obstacles to trade or travel must be our red line. Mr Varadkar has called for a redoubling of efforts, while adding we are prepared for a no-deal scenario.
As we approach the endgame, the concern must be that we are now being played. Deadlines, so crucial in negotiating, are being pushed back. Eight months have lapsed since we were supposed to have settled where we are on a withdrawal agreement.
It is very much in Britain’s interests to stall and delay so the Border gets bounced into the final deal and bundled up in trade talks, shifting the pressure from Britain on to us.
The British are running rings around the EU and ourselves by refusing to specify terms compatible with maintaining the EU’s integrity and avoiding a threat to security in these islands. The UK wants the benefits of remaining in the single market without the responsibilities that go with it.
Even now, Mrs May is saying she doubts whether it will be possible to conclude the discussions by the October summit. She is under enormous pressure with the Tory conference hovering over her. Her energies have been expended in marshalling her own divided party instead of directing them towards delivering a workable solution.
But, sooner or later, consequences must be confronted. According to Donald Tusk, October will be the “moment of truth” for reaching a deal. About time, too.
A seamless border with the North with no obstacles to trade or travel must be our red line