Britain offers Brexit ‘compromise’ to EU
Last-minute proposal gives alternative to so-called ‘Irish backstop’
MANCHESTER: Britain on Wednesday offered the European Union a proposed last-minute Brexit deal that it said represents a realistic compromise for both sides, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the bloc to hold “rapid negotiations towards a solution” after years of wrangling.
The prime minister intends to request that parliament be suspended from October 8 to 14, his Downing Street office said on Wednesday, just weeks after a previous attempt was ruled unlawful. “These timings would mean parliament is prorogued for the shortest time possible to enable all the necessary logistical preparations” for Queen Elizabeth II to outline the government’s new legislative programme, it said in a statement.
With Britain due to leave the EU at the end of this month, Johnson said in a letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that not reaching a deal would be “a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible”. He did not mention that the EU and the UK did reach a deal in 2018, only for it to be rejected, three times, by Britain’s Parliament.
Juncker gave the proposals a guarded welcome and said the two sides would negotiate over the coming days. He said he welcomed Johnson’s “determination” to make progress but noted there were still some “problematic” areas. Finland, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, said the 27 other member states would “engage actively” with the UK proposals.
The new proposals focus on maintaining an open border between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland - the key sticking point to a Brexit deal. The UK proposes to do that by keeping Northern Ireland closely aligned to EU rules for trade in goods, possibly for an extended period. An open border underpins both the local economy and Northern Ireland’s peace process. But Johnson and other British Brexit supporters oppose the backstop because it would keep the UK tightly bound to EU trade rules in order to avoid customs checks - limiting the country’s ability to strike new trade deals around the world.
Johnson insisted that “we will under no circumstances have checks at or near the border in Northern Ireland”.
The British prroposal involves “an all-island regulatory zone on the island of Ireland, covering all goods including agrifood”. That would keep Northern Ireland in a regulatory zone with the EU for food, agricultural and industrial products, removing the need for checks. The UK proposal does not put a time limit on that status, though it would have to be renewed every four years by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
However, that assembly has been suspended for more than two years by a dispute between the main Unionist and Nationalist power-sharing parties. Under the plan there would still need to be customs checks, but Johnson suggested in his letter that they could be carried out away from the border at “other points on the supply chain”.
The EU said it would give the British proposal serious legal vetting before deciding whether it could be a basis for future talks.