Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DON’T GET TOO CLEVER MR DAVIS.. EU confirm deal not binding as Minister U-turns on ‘legal’ remark
Let’s make Good Friday Agreement core vision
A TALE of three apples:
The tariff on a fresh apple coming into the EU is 7%, but a dried apple only attracts 3%. However, if you stew the apple it rises to 16%.
Therein, with one simple fruit, lies the complexity of the Brexit negotiations.
Add in the UK divorce settlement of some £40billion, transfer back of 141 regulatory areas and the movement of people, capital, goods and services, and the Gordian knot of complexity intensifies.
Then consider the delicate politics and centuries of conflict.
The last 10 days of high drama fortifies the view of some we will either never reach Brexit or crash out without a deal.
Although that gives strength to the “take back our laws” lobby, arguing we have given away too much and complexity’s no reason to keep the status quo.
The “glass half-full” perspective shapes another vision, one of mutual interdependence.
That is based on the principles of the Good Friday/belfast Agreement.
The beauty of it was its balanced outlook – nationalists and unionists, pursuit of a united Ireland or a United Kingdom, so long as the arguments are conducted democratically.
And that was briefly the mood of the Monday-friday turnaround last week. In spite all the huffing and puffing, the eventual text of the settlement was characterised by a 180-degree scan of vision; even if some will say it must be clearer or more “win-lose” in character.
But that will go nowhere in the current mess, where neither side has a clear majority.
We need flexibility and creative ambiguity at these early stages – the time for tough choices will come later when we need a solution to the apple tariff conundrum. THE landmark deal that supposedly ensured there would be no return to a hard border is not legally binding, the EU confirmed yesterday.
A claim by blundering Brexit Minister David Davis that the UK could walk away from it now appears to be true.
And in a gaffe on London’s LBC Radio, he also insisted yesterday he does not “have to be very clever” to do his job.
After infuriating the Irish Government, the European Commission confirmed the UK had endorsed the “gentleman’s agreement” between Mr Davis and EU negotiator Michel Barnier.
The MP said on Sunday the last-minute deal agreed last Friday to allow trade talks to start was “a statement of intent” rather than legally enforceable.
He retracted his comments yesterday morning telling LBC the agreement would be honoured.
Mr Davis added the deal was “much more than legally enforceable”.
But it is understood he did so only after the Irish Government made it known it had serious concerns about his remarks. And revealing the key qualities for his crucial role in Britain’s most important negotiations since the Second World War, he insisted: “What’s the requirement of my job?
“I don’t have to be very clever, I don’t have to know that much, I do just have to be calm.”
Meanwhile, the European Commission’s confirmation that what took place last Friday was merely a “gentleman’s agreement” will cause further alarm in Dublin.
Speaking in Brussels, Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: “Formally speaking the joint report is not legally binding because it is not yet the Article 50 Withdrawal Agreement, but we see the joint report of Mr Barnier and Mr Davis as a deal between gentlemen.”
“President Juncker met Prime Minister May last Friday morning to ascertain this is the case. They shook hands.”
Secretary of State James Brokenshire also insisted the deal is more than a statement of intent.
He told RTE’S Morning Ireland: “The legal effect is given by way of the withdrawal agreement.” Speaking from Westminster, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: “The EU demand trade talks could only begin after the ‘phase one’ issues were resolved has slowed down progress towards an overall deal.
“People will welcome we can now move forward to the next phase.”
In yesterday’s LBC interview, Mr Davis confessed his zen-like “calm” came under pressure during last week’s fiasco with the DUP over the border that almost derailed plans.
He added: “That did test the calmness a bit, a little bit.”
Asked about Mr Davis’ claims he did not need to be clever, Theresa May’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has a belief that all her Cabinet Ministers are able to do their jobs.” Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: “Another interview, another car crash from David Davis. “I mean this to be helpful to him – can someone please take away his shovel, because it is time he stopped digging?”
Mrs May has repeated that the agreement reached on Friday was a significant improvement from that seen last Monday.
She made clear the text strengthens the constitutional and economic integrity of the whole of the United Kingdom.
She said: “In the event of a deal Northern Ireland will not be separated politically, economically or by any regulatory requirements from the rest of the UK.
“But in the event of no overall deal then nothing has been agreed.”
YESTERDAY, LONDON