Ahead of Thursday’s informal EU summit, the EU’s chief negotiator in Brexit talks, Michel Barnier, said Tuesday that the bloc was ready to improve its proposals on how to resolve the Irish border issue.
The EU’s “backstop” plan (a plan that’s applicable as a last resort, as a result of ‘no deal’) has suggested that Northern Ireland could stay within the EU’s customs union, allowing people and goods to continue to move freely, but the U.K. has vetoed that proposal.
Opposition to such a move lies in the fact that the EU’s external border would effectively then be drawn down the middle of the Irish Sea, at least symbolically challenging the unity of the U.K.
Any plan that sees Northern Ireland “separated,” in terms of regulation, from the U.K. is unpopular in both Westminster and among Northern Irish unionists.
“What we cannot accept is seeing Northern Ireland carved away from the United Kingdom’s customs territory because, regardless of where the checks would be, what that would mean is that it would be a challenge to our constitutional and economic integrity,” May told reporters on Wednesday evening.
Speaking after a meeting with EU foreign ministers, Barnier told reporters that a legally operational “backstop” that respects Britain’s sovereignty was required. But he said border checks, for goods and citizens, needed to be “de-dramatized” and that the meeting in October would be “the moment of truth.”
As Barnier signaled that EU leaders could pave the way for a deal to resolve the Northern Ireland issue, sterling rallied to an eight-week high against the euro, making the euro worth 88.64 pence, although inflation data also boosted the pound. Thursday’s summit is seen as a make-or-break event for the pound. One foreign exchange strategist, Jane Foley, remarked in early September that sterling is so volatile it could slump or surge in the next few months.
The U.K. prime minister’s key allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), have already poured water on Barnier’s comments, however.
Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the DUP – a party staunchly defensive of Northern Ireland’s position as part of the U.K. – said Wednesday that Barnier’s comments “still means a border down the Irish Sea, although with different kinds of checks.”
“The fact is that both Theresa May and the Labour Party have said no British Prime Minister could accept such a concept. It is not just unionists who object,” he added. The DUP, and most politicians in London, refuse to countenance any trade or border proposals that would mean Northern Ireland is separated from the U.K. or more aligned to Ireland.
Mujtaba Rahman, Eurasia Group’s managing director of Europe research, said Wednesday in a note that the Irish border “remains the biggest stumbling block” to the Brexit process.
“Although widely interpreted as a new development, Michel Barnier’s intervention yesterday is consistent with the EU27’s longstanding view — that there is flexibility on the design and location of customs checks, as long as checks take place.
“While Barnier’s warmer words are welcome in London, Whitehall officials concede that the two sides are still ‘miles apart.'”
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