Hammond warns ‘catastrophe’ for Ireland if no Brexit deal with EU

berlin — British Finance Minister Philip Hammond told a German newspaper that it would be a “catastrophe” for the situation in Ireland if Britain and the European Union failed to find a solution during talks on Brexit.

Northern Ireland, which will become Britain’s only land frontier with the EU after Brexit in March 2019, remains the most difficult issue in talks between Brussels and London and a threat to peace in the British province.

“The worst result for the Good Friday Agreement would be no solution between the EU and Britain, that would be a catastrophe for the situation in Ireland,” Hammond told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in an interview published on Wednesday.

Hammond did not say whether he was referring specifically to a solution to the Irish border question, or to a comprehensive deal for UK’s divorce from the European Union.

Britain and the EU are committed to keeping a free flow of people and goods over the Irish border without returning to checkpoints which would be a reminder of the three decades of violence largely ended by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.However, no solution has yet been found for any customs checks needed after Brexit and a backstop plan could effectively isolate the Northern Ireland economy from mainland Britain.

Hammond also said Britain would honour its financial obligations to the EU after its departure and the payments could total up to 39 billion pounds ($55.35 billion).

“The payments extend over a very long period of time because they also include pension entitlements,” Hammond, who met German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz this week, told the FAZ. —