Britain warns EU will order Irish to erect frontier checks if agreement isn’t reached
THE EU will have to order the Government to reimpose the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, it has been claimed.
It is believed the warning from London’s Brexit Minister Dominic Raab has angered the EU’S chief negotiator Michel Barnier who was left “absolutely furious” after a meeting last month.
There are now growing fears the border question will be left out of talks right until the end while all the other elements of the deal are worked out.
This would put enormous pressure on Leo Varadkar to accept a hard border or be accused of scuppering the entire Brexit deal.
The Daily Telegraph reported Mr Raab’s challenge to Mr Barnier reflects British thinking that the EU will have to choose between forcing the Government to erect a border that would undermine the Good Friday Agreement or impose customs checks between Ireland and the EU.
Brussels has stated if the UK insists on leaving the customs union and continue to have an invisible border, the only way this could be achieved while protecting the single market is to have customs checks in the Irish Sea.
Prime Minister Theresa May has already said this would be unacceptable to any British Government as it would mean the North would be effectively outside the UK.
Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney said Brexit had intensified in recent weeks.
Speaking at the Fine Gael parliamentary party’s think-in event in Co Galway yesterday, he admitted there is a lot of work to do.
He said: “When Michel Barnier talks about the ticking clock and a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in, you know, it’s not a bluff. He means it.
“The engagement is now much more serious, much more business-like. “Both sides I think are determined to deliver an outcome because no agreement and a potential for a no-deal Brexit is an outcome where everybody loses – in particular the UK and Ireland, but the EU as well. “Nobody wants that outcome. With some more flexibility on all sides I think a deal can be done hopefully by the end of October.”
Michel Barnier, left, and Dominic Raab