PM’s new plan for Irish border ‘ready in weeks’
But Varadkar fears ideas will not go far enough
THERESA May has told EU leaders she will “shortly” table proposals to resolve issues around the Irish border, which are threatening to derail Brexit negotiations.
Attending the EU Western Balkans summit in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, the Prime Minister reaffirmed her position that there should be no return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
At the same time, however, Mrs May stressed that the EU’s suggested backstop solution — that Northern Ireland should remain aligned with the EU if there is no Brexit agreement — remained unacceptable to the UK.
Her promise to bring forward an alternative plan came as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned that a failure to resolve the border deadlock could place the UK’s EU withdrawal agreement in jeopardy.
Following what she described as a “very constructive” meeting with Mr Varadkar on the margins of the summit, Mrs May said she was working on what the UK’s future customs relationship with the EU would be.
“The commission published a fallback option which was not acceptable to us, and we will be bringing forward our own proposal for that fallback option in due course,” Mrs may added.
Mr Varadkar said he expected the UK to table the new proposals within weeks, but he also expressed concern they would not do enough to resolve the issues.
“Any move on customs that brings the UK closer to the EU is to be welcomed, but resolving the issue of avoiding a hard border requires more than customs,” Mr Varadkar said.
Earlier, arriving at the Sofia summit, the Taoiseach said that unless there was real and substantial progress by the time of the next EU summit in June, there would be serious questions as to whether there would be a withdrawal agreement at all.
He stressed it remained an “absolute red line” for Ireland that there must be no hard border on the island, and added that all remaining EU states supported the current backstop plan.
“If the UK wants to put forward alternatives to that — whether it’s an alternative text to the backstop or whether it’s some sort of alternative relationship between the UK and the EU — we are willing to examine that,” Mr Varadkar said.
“We need to see it written down in black and white. We need to know that it’s workable and legally operable, and we have yet to see anything that remotely approaches that.”
Earlier, Mrs May, who also held talks with European Council president Donald Tusk and Commission president JeanClaude Juncker, denied a report that the UK could remain tied to the customs union for years after leaving the bloc while the future arrangements were resolved.
“No we are not (climbing down). The United Kingdom will be leaving the customs union — we are leaving the European Union,” the Prime Minister said.
Speaking later at a news conference, Mrs May acknowledged there would have to be “arrangements” as to how cross-border matters were dealt with in relation to customs.
However, she also stressed that the UK would be operating its own “independent trade policy” after the end of 2020, when the planned 21-month transition period expires.
Eurosceptics had responded with dismay to the suggestion that the UK could remain closely aligned to Brussels after 2020.