OUR FATE IN EU’S HANDS
AS Europe reeled from yesterday’s result of the Brexit referendum, the Government here moved to ensure Ireland won’t be punished in Brussels’ negotiations with Britain over its exit from EU.
There was growing concern last night in both Dublin and London about an uncompromising attitude from EU chiefs eager for Britain to leave as soon as possible.
The fate of Ireland’s multibillion euro trade relations, longheld freedom of movement and its border with the North will lie in the hands of EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the process of removing Britain from the EU begins in earnest next week.
Ministers here yesterday expressed concern that Ireland would end up being collateral damage in the EU top brass’s determination to punish Britain and ensure no other countries would try to follow it.
An Irish Government source said yesterday that they plan to persuade EU partners not to ‘lash out’ at Britain, as an intense period of lobbying is set to begin.
Yesterday, indications of the possibility of a tough line came from President of the European parliament Martin Schulz, president of the European Council Donald Tusk, European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte who issued a joint statement saying a quick exit for the UK was needed.
They said: ‘We now expect the United Kingdom government to give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be. Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty.’
Mr Schulz went further, adding that he would speak with German Chancellor Ms Merkel on how to ensure other EU states don’t follow the UK’s exit path.
‘The chain reaction being celebrated everywhere now by Eurosceptics won’t happen,’ he said. ‘Britain has just cut its ties with that market.
‘That’ll have consequences, and I don’t believe other countries will be encouraged to follow that dangerous path.’
But Ms Merkel expressed ‘great regret’ at Britain’s decision, and appeared to agree with Ireland that the EU should not draw ‘quick and simple conclusions’ from what had happened. Sources here indicated to the Irish Daily Mail yesterday that Mr Kenny would effectively make Britain’s case in the hope of lessening the possible impact of Brexit on Ireland.
There are particular fears that the EU leaders could look for a hard border between the UK and the Republic, an end to the Common Travel Area that could allow British nationals to resettle on the continent, and the punitive imposition of tariffs.
The Irish Government is now to launch into intensive behindthe-scenes
‘Britain has cut its ties’
lobbying ahead of an emergency European Council meeting next week of the 27 continuing members, at which Britain will not be present. ‘We can’t rush this,’ said a source. ‘This has so many impacts on Ireland, and none of them have been quantified yet. We are going to explain to our partners that now is not the time to lash out, and there has to be an orderly and thought-through process. Otherwise you will endanger Irish national interests.’
Mr Kenny yesterday publicly pledged to continue to make the case for sympathetic British treatment, believing that a rushed expulsion could cause calamitous knock-on effects in Ireland. Mr Kenny said: ‘We will approach these issues in the same spirit of partnership that has underpinned the peace process and has transformed relationships on this island since the Good Friday Agreement.’
And he added: ‘I’d like to reiterate that while Ireland’s future lies within the European Union, Ireland’s strong and close relationship with the UK will remain.’ The Taoiseach added that he
would attempt to minimise the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
He said: ‘For our part, the Irish Government will do our utmost in upcoming discussions to maintain the Common Travel Area and minimise any possible disruptions to the flow of people, goods and services between these islands.’
Mr Kenny has recalled the Dáil to sit on Monday and said the country’s senior finance officials had been in close contact with regulators and European finance chiefs to ensure that any short-term market volatility was carefully managed.
Yesterday, the four EU leaders called on Britain to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, effectively a letter of resignation.
Yet both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said invoking Article 50 was a matter for the next British prime minister, expected to be installed in October.
The Government’s assurances it would do everything to ensure the UK’s departure from the EU was as painless as possible came after a day of drama across Europe.
Counting in the UK began shortly after polls closed at 10pm on Thursday night after which counting started almost immediately. Shortly after midnight, the first results from largely populated areas such as Newcastle and Sunderland indicated that the Leave said was set to win, despite predictions to the contrary.
Leave passed the finishing post just after 6am, with final count showed Leave on 51.9% of the total vote to Remain’s 48.1%.
Mr Cameron soon announced his intention to resign in a speech outside Downing Street. Flanked by wife Samantha, Mr Cameron said he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term, but hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative annual conference in October.
Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson hailed the Prime Minister as a ‘brave and principled man’ and insisted the Leave vote would give the UK a ‘glorious opportunity’ for a brighter future.
But the immediate aftermath of the referendum result saw turmoil on the markets, with the FTSE plunging by more than 7% at one stage before recovering, while the value of sterling crashed.
At home, the Taoiseach published a ‘contingency framework’, including the targeting multinationals that want to be in the EU and a hotline for business on the practical implications of the Brexit result.
But Finance Minister Mr Noonan was downbeat on our immediate future prospects yesterday.
He said: ‘The downsides are pretty certain, the upside only speculative... We can say that there will be a [negative] effect on growth.’