Barnier’s vow doesn’t remove Brexit threats

THE EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is a welcome visitor to Ireland again today. From the outset, he has shown great empathy for Ireland’s unique risks in the face of our nearest neighbour and major trading partner leaving the European Union after 45 years of membership. Yesterday Mr Barnier, a former French foreign minister and EU regional fund commissioner, gave the most explicit guarantee yet that Britain will not get any exit deal unless Ireland is satisfied.

“We will not sign any agreement with the UK unless we – together with the Irish Government – are satisfied with the solution found for Ireland,” he wrote in yesterday’s ‘Sunday Independent’.

But time is running out to find such a solution and the British government remains pretty hopelessly divided on what it wants from these exit talks, which must be concluded by October. The UK divisions point to a serious risk it may “crash out” of the EU on March 29 next year. That would be a major disaster for all of Ireland. It would inevitably lead to a return of the Border and imperil very lucrative trade with Britain at a cost of thousands of jobs.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s “red lines” in these talks, in place since early last year, include leaving the EU single market and customs union as part of Brexit. That would lead to a minimal EU-UK trade deal post-Brexit. So without a change of policy in London, the risks of Brexit for this country continue to loom large.