What’s the deal?

What just happened?

After 16 months of on- and off-again negotiations, the European Union and the United Kingdom agreed on a draft text for Britain’s withdrawal from the 28-member economic, political and social bloc. But that deal must still be ratified by the UK parliament and the EU.

A special EU summit will take place later this month in Brussels. Yesterday at 10 Downing Street in London, British Prime Minister Theresa May won the backing of her senior ministers for the draft. But the deal will have to be approved by parliament in a series of key votes.

What’s the big deal?

The biggest difficulty in reaching a Brexit agreement has always been the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to its south on the divided island.

It’s the only land frontier affected by the UK’s decision to quit the EU after 45 years. Right now, it’s an open border, with no checkpoints, security or customs checks. The EU made it one of the conditions for any deal that it remain open, with goods, people and services flowing freely between north and south. Both sides have agreed on a “backstop” to ensure that happens.

What’s the backstop?

It’s a really poorly named phrase that simply means “guarantee” – a promise that no matter what happens in the future on a free trade deal that has yet to be negotiated, there would be no return for a “hard” border, one with checkpoints.

The EU fear that a hard border would increase the likelihood of a return to political and sectarian violence as occurred for three decades from 1969 onwards, a conflict that claimed 3,600 lives and injured 36,000 more.