Barnier says Brexit deal 90% complete
THE pound rose yesterday after European Union negotiator Michel Barnier said a Brexit deal with the United Kingdom was 90 per cent done, although political uncertainty in Britain kept the gains in check.
Mr Barnier also warned that failure to resolve the Irish border question could still derail any deal.
“Ninety per cent of the accord on the table has been agreed with Britain,” Mr Barnier told France Inter radio, adding that the Irish border issue remained a sticking point and could derail any agreement.
On Thursday, May and other EU leaders voiced renewed confidence that they could secure a Brexit deal, yet the two sides remain at odds over how to deal with their only land border, between the British province of Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Mrs May had also signalled that she would consider extending a so-called transition period “for a matter of months” after Britain leaves the EU at the end of March.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said yesterday it would be hard to resolve the issue of a backstop to the Irish border problem in Brexit talks without more detail on the future relationship with the EU after Brexit.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said yesterday that a possible extension of Britain’s post-Brexit transition period would not diminish Ireland’s need for a “backstop” to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland.
He also told reporters on the third day of EU summit meetings in Brussels that it would be up to Mrs May to decide whether she had to defy opposition from her unionist Northern Irish allies and agree to the EU’s proposed backstop, which would potentially create trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.
He said it was a “judgment call” Mrs May would have to make but said that without an Irish backstop, any withdrawal treaty might not be ratified by the European Parliament. He acknowledged that Mrs May faces a difficult domestic political situation, running a minority government with internal divisions on the Brexit issue.
Mr Varadkar also renewed a warning that a return of customs posts on his country’s border with Northern Ireland could see a return to violence in the British province:
On the issue of extending Britain’s transition period, he said: “I’m open to the idea of an extension or a longer transition period, but that’s not an alternative to a legally binding Irish backstop. So, certainly not an alternative, it’s just something that might be part of the mix.”
Meanwhile on Thursday, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the status of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar after Britain leaves the EU Union has been agreed.
“Gibraltar will no longer be a problem in arriving at a Brexit deal,” he said.
However, Spain and Britain are still holding separate bilateral talks regarding Gibraltar, focusing on matters such as environmental issues, tax affairs and tobacco trade, Mr Sanchez said. Gibraltar will leave the EU along with the United Kingdom on March 29 next year. Its status, and that of two British sovereign areas in South Cyprus, forms part of any overall divorce agreement with the EU.