Irish border issue could lead to Brexit talks failure, says Barnier
paris — Disagreements over the Ireland border could lead to a breakdown in the Brexit discussions, the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday.
Speaking on France Inter radio, Barnier said a deal to keep goods flowing smoothly between EU member state Ireland and Northern Ireland in the UK after Brexit is a “prerequisite” for a successful outcome to the divorce talks.
Barnier said avoiding such a “hard border” is a “condition for peace and stability for this island following many tragedies” and that the issue has the potential for the talks to end in failure.
The Irish border will be U.K’s only land frontier with the EU after Brexit. Both sides agree there must be no hard border that could disrupt businesses and residents on both sides and undermine Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace process. But each has rejected the other side’s solution.
The EU has suggested that a back-stop solution is to keep Northern Ireland inside a customs union with the bloc, but Britain rejects that because it would mean customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK Britain has proposed instead that all of the UK could stay in a time-limited customs union. The EU insists there can be no time limit.
“I don’t have an intimate conviction on this matter because the political situation is extremely complex in the United Kingdom,” Barnier said. “And I do not know what decision (Prime Minister) Theresa May will take. I want an agreement; I’m working on it because it’s the common interest.” —