Barnier: UK to get more guarantees on backstop
THE European Union is ready to give Britain more guarantees that the Brexit backstop is only intended to be temporary, chief negotiator Michel Barnier said.
“We know that there are misgivings in Britain that the backstop could keep Britain forever connected to the EU,” said Mr Barnier.
“This is not the case. And we are ready to give further guarantees, assurances and clarifications that the backstop should only be temporary.”
Mr Barnier’s comments came in an interview with Germany’s ‘Die Welt’ newspaper to be published today.
His remarks will be closely studied in Ireland, where Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has previously acknowledged the ambition for the backstop to be temporary – but insisted it should not become a game of “chicken”. The backstop, intended to prevent a hard Border, has become the main point of contention in the proposed Brexit deal.
“We will not reverse the backstop,” Mr Barnier added. “It’s an insurance. We don’t want to make use of it. And this is also the case when you insure your house. It’s only intended for the worst-case scenario.”
Mr Barnier said EU guarantees that the backstop is temporary could come as part of the political agreement setting out expectations for Britain’s relationship with the bloc.
He told ‘Die Welt’ that any extension must be intended specifically to solve the impasse. He saw little risk of the remaining 27 EU leaders opposing a delay to the UK’s exit, currently set for March 29, as long as the UK was serious about finding a solution.
“The question that the EU27 will ask is: What for? The answer cannot be that Britain wants to postpone a problem. One would want to solve it.”
He added that any decision to allow an extension would have to be unanimously approved by EU leaders at a summit on March 21.
Yesterday, Mr Varadkar said it was unlikely the UK would crash out of the EU on March 29. Asked whether a deal was close, he gave a cautious response, saying: “We are entering quite a sensitive period over the next week or two. But I think that the United Kingdom crashing out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal is unlikely. I think we will have a deal or we’ll have an extension.”
Meanwhile, he suggested Fianna Fáil can no longer be considered “honest brokers” in Northern Ireland after its partnership with the SDLP.
In remarks that will spark a furious political row, the Taoiseach compared Micheál Martin’s new alliance to that between the UK Conservative Party and the DUP.
Speaking in Belfast, where he attended the annual Alliance Party dinner last night, Mr Varadkar said if Fianna Fáil returns to government in the Republic, it cannot claim to treat all parties north of the Border equally.
Fianna Fáil’s deputy leader Dara Calleary reacted angrily to the Taoiseach’s remarks, claiming it was Fine Gael that let north-south relations drift in the build-up to Brexit.
“Our involvement in Northern Ireland politics has always been positive and constructive compared with the lack of engagement shown by Fine Gael in government since 2011,” he told the Irish Independent. “The lack of engagement is key to the impasse we have at the moment.”