Dublin holds the keys to Britain’s post-brexit future, says Tusk

DONALD TUSK, the President of the European Council, last night warned Britain that the keys to its future were held by Dublin, as he heaped pressure on Theresa May to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit.

Speaking in Dublin alongside Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, Mr Tusk said that talks over a future UKEU trade deal or a transition agreement would not happen without Irish backing. “If the UK offer is unacceptable for Ireland, it will also be unacceptable for the EU,” said Mr Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU leaders in the Council.

“I realise that for some British politicians this may be hard to understand,” Mr Tusk said yesterday. “But such is the logic behind the fact that Ireland is the EU member while the UK is leaving.”

After speaking in Irish and before sharing a warm handshake with Mr Varadkar, Mr Tusk added: “This is why the key to the UK’S future lies, in some way in Dublin, at least as long as the Brexit negotiations continue.”

The stark reminder was issued just days before Mr Tusk’s deadline – which was set last Friday after meeting Theresa May in Brussels for Britain to make “sufficient progress” on the three issues of the Brexit bill, Ireland and citizens’ rights – expires on Monday.

When Britain leaves the EU on March 29 2019, the invisible border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will become an external border with the EU. Without an agreement in place, Brexit risks disrupting vital and frequent cross-border trade with customs controls that could inflame dormant tensions quelled by the peace process.

On Monday, Mrs May will meet Jeanclaude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, in Brussels for a “working lunch” in a bid to work through “sufficient progress” before a crunch Dec 14 European Council summit.

The EU is refusing to talk trade until the sufficient progress hurdle is cleared on all three issues. The Daily Telegraph exclusively revealed this week that agreement in principle had been reached over the EU’S demand for a €60billion (£53billion) reckoning for Brexit. EU diplomats also believe that a “landing zone” will be found on citizens’ rights despite the EU’S contentious insistence that the European Court of Justice remains the final arbiter of the rights of the three million EU expats living in Britain.

However, Dublin has been firm that Britain must provide workable and credible ways to guarantee that the currently frictionless border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is preserved no matter the result of the Brexit negotiations. If the EU decides that sufficient progress has not been made, vital trade talks will be delayed, for a second time, until March 2018.

That date is a year after Mrs May triggered the Brexit process and a year before the two year negotiation period for the UK-EU divorce elapses. “The border,” said Mr Tusk last night, “is no longer a symbol of division, it is a symbol of cooperation and we cannot allow Brexit to destroy this achievement of the Good Friday Agreement.”

He added: “The UK decision to leave the EU has created uncertainty for millions of people in Europe, perhaps nowhere is this more visible than here.”

Mr Varadkar told reporters: “Irish concerns are very much Europe’s concerns. The EU is a family and a family sticks together.”

The Irish prime minister said the simplest solution would be for the UK to remain in the single market and customs union, which would avoid the need for a hard border.