The future of the Irish border erupted unexpectedly into Brexit talks this week, as the European Union made new demands on Britain that risk distracting from efforts to push negotiations to a breakthrough by year-end.
The EU circulated a document to a meeting of EU diplomats Wednesday that called for Northern Ireland to maintain the rules of the customs union and single market after Brexit. The EU calls for no hard frontier on the island, meaning that regulations have to be the same on each side of the line that will become the U.’s only land border with the EU after Brexit.
Read more: What Ireland’s Border Means for Post-Brexit World: QuickTake Q&A
The Irish issue, while one of the three divorce issues that needs to be settled in the first phase of talks, had taken a back seat as the U. argued that it was hard to find an agreement on the gnarly border issue until the future trading relationship was sorted out. But Ireland is aware that it essentially has veto power now, and once talks move on to trade it will be just one of 27 countries fighting to get its voice heard. It has been considering seeking explicit guarantees on the border as a condition for progress in talks.
What the EU is demanding is all but impossible for Britain, unless the whole U. stays in the customs union, which Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out. Allowing Northern Ireland to stay in the customs union would mean putting a border between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. That’s unthinkable for the U., and more so at a time when the Conservative government is propped up by the pro-U. Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland.
Ireland has consistently argued that the U. remaining in the customs union would be the easiest way to avoid a new border. But May insists Britain will leave as it can’t strike trade deals around the world otherwise.
Wooing the Brexit Camp
The Irish government said late Thursday that the U. must make “strong and tangible commitments” to avoid a hard border. It would like the whole U. to remain in the customs union and single market, but failing that, wants to avoid on the island of Ireland “any regulatory divergence from the rules of the EU Internal Market and Customs Union.”
Back in London, Brexit Secretary David Davis was reassuring the City that banks were high up on his negotiating priority list and that May was making overtures to the pro-Brexit camp in her party. government will propose an amendment to its landmark Brexit legislation so that the date of Brexit is enshrined in law.
The move, which will delight euroskeptics, will also discourage the growing wave of speculation about how Brexit could be reversed or delayed. May, who appointed a pro-Brexit minister to her cabinet on Thursday, also used firm words in an editorial in the Brexit-backing Telegraph that she won’t tolerate any attempts to by lawmakers to use amendments to the legislation to “try to block the democratic wishes of the British people by attempting to slow down or stop our departure from the European Union.”
Read more: Britons Can Still Reverse Brexit, Article 50 Author Says
The overture to those parts of the Conservative Party most enthusiastic about Brexit comes just as the government needs to prepare the ground to improve its offer on the financial settlement it owes the EU before a year-end deadline.
A summit in December is the target both sides are aiming for to get a deal on the divorce, so that talks can move on to the future trade relationship. With the EU asking for about 60 billion euros ($70 billion) and the U. so far offering about a third of that, the U. side needs to move if it wants to start trade talks.
Euroskeptics have been an obstacle to making a settlement, as some argue that the U. doesn’t need to pay anything as it leaves. The EU argues it needs to meet the financial commitments it made as a member of the club.
The Brexit Bill and Whether Britain Will Pay Up: QuickTake Q&A.
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