Juncker: EU is staying solid with Ireland over backstop
THE EU has closed ranks behind Ireland as Jean-claude Juncker warned that the Commons vote to try to scrap the Irish backstop had increased the risk of Britain’s “disorderly exit” from the EU.
The European Commission President’s remarks came as Theresa May was holding her first Brexit meeting with Jeremy Corbyn at Westminster to see if there was any common ground between them on the way forward on Brexit. None appeared to have emerged.
Addressing the European Parliament, Mr Juncker made clear the EU27 was four-square behind Dublin, telling MEPS: “Ireland’s border is Europe’s border and it is our Union’s priority.”
He stressed that the idea of “alternative arrangements” to the backstop contained in the Brady amendment passed by MPS on Tuesday had already been discussed in negotiations and was mentioned in the Political Declaration on future relations.
But he noted: “A concept is not a plan. It is not an operational solution.”
In London, No 10 explained “alternative arrangements” could include technological solutions, a unilateral exit clause and a time-limit, as well as trusted trader schemes.
Also addressing MEPS, Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, made clear the Withdrawal Agreement , containing the backstop plan, would “not be renegotiated”. He said the process was “tough,” adding: “I find it hard to accept this blame-game they are trying to play against us.”
French President Emmanuel Macron was adamant the Withdrawal Agreement was “not renegotiable” while a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said reopening the deal was “not on the agenda”. Her colleague Heiko Maas, the German Foreign Minister, added: “Germany and the entire Union are firmly on Ireland’s side. We will not allow Ireland to be isolated on this issue.”
Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Coveney stressed his government had seen no alternative arrangements that met the essential threshold of avoiding a hard border. “We need a backstop or insurance mechanism based on legal certainty and not just wishful thinking,” he declared.
Yesterday afternoon, his colleague Leo Varadkar spoke with the Prime Minister by phone. Dublin issued a statement stressing that Ireland’s and the EU’S position on the backstop was “unchanged” and the latest developments had “reinforced the need for a backstop, which is legally robust and workable in practice”.
At Westminster, Mr Corbyn emerged from his talks with Mrs May, saying they had been “serious” and “exploratory”.
He explained he had “set out the Labour case for a comprehensive customs union with the European Union in order to protect jobs in this country”.
The Labour leader warned: “The whole process looks like it’s running down the clock by saying, well, it’s either the problems and the difficulties of no-deal, or support a deal that’s already been rejected by the House of Commons. I’m suspicious there is a programme of running down the clock here.”
Suggestions from Labour sources that the PM had signalled a climbdown on a customs union with the EU were smartly rejected by No 10, which made clear all Mrs May had done was “ask questions” about Labour’s policy for a UK-EU customs union.
Earlier, during a rowdy PMQS, Mrs May accused the Labour leader of “risking no-deal”, pointing out he had “opposed every move” by the Government to get an agreement with Brussels.
Mr Corbyn said the PM might have temporarily united her “very divided party” but stressed she had to “move on from the red lines she put down in the first place”.
In a bitter clash, the SNP’S Westminster leader Ian Blackford accused Mrs May of acting with “sheer irresponsibility” in regards to the backstop.
On Tuesday, the Highland MP came under heavy Conservative fire for accusing the PM of “ripping up the Good Friday Agreement”, a charge she claimed was “frankly irresponsible”.
Over the coming days, Mrs May is expected to have more talks with Tory colleagues to help form her strategy for when she returns to Brussels to try to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement.
Mr Blackford suggested she did “not have a cat in hell’s chance” of doing so.
Ireland’s border is Europe’s border and it is our Union’s priority