Brexit: The perils of progress on the backstop

On Monday, Boris Johnson held a two-hour lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker in Luxembourg. Afterwards, the European Commission said it was up to the UK to bring forward solutions that met the objectives of the Irish backstop. "Such proposals have not yet been made," said the statement.

At midday on Thursday, the European Commission confirmed it had received what the UK called "a series of confidential technical non-papers which reflect the ideas the UK has been putting forward". Then on Friday evening, RTÉ News reported on the details of the UK proposals, as outlined in the "non-papers" and via talks between Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, and Michel Barnier.

"What they're putting forward don’t even meet any of the three objectives in the backstop," said one official. .⁦@JunckerEU⁩ ⁦@SkyNews⁩ 🇪🇺🇬🇧 "I am convinced that #Brexit will happen. Believe we can have a deal. I am doing everything possible to have a deal. #Backstop can only be replaced by alternative arrangements that meet ALL its objectives." https://t.co/9hscBf6q87

The diplomatic note said the papers covered the "regulatory scope of a sanitary and phytosanitary zone [on the island of Ireland], Customs and Manufactured goods." "And the other member states will not dump a solution on the Irish that will come as a surprise. So you wonder how it can be done in the next four weeks if the point of departure now is zero text. We’re not even close. We’re miles away."

On the second, there were grave concerns the UK was simply asking for the impossible. Given nearly two years of gruelling negotiations leading to the Withdrawal Agreement and the subsequent legally binding add-ons and clarifications, the idea that the EU would simply tear up chunks of what had been agreed and replace it with something weaker was not feasible.

Despite the reservations, Leo Varadkar was sufficiently convinced that Boris Johnson was serious about getting a deal.Downing Street wants the backstop to be "disaggregated". In other words, bits of it would be salvaged, such as an all-Ireland agri-food zone, while all the other elements such as the treatment of industrial goods, customs, VAT and other provisions designed to support the all-island economy and north-south cooperation would be ditched.

tconnellyRTE Tony, Very informative, thanks. With respect you haven't got to nub. UKPM's letter of 19 August made it clear that, post failure of UK to endorse May approach, the post Brexit destination for UK was to be free to agree FTAs elsewhere. Thus ENTIRE UK would be leaving the EUCM. 1/

tconnellyRTE

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