25 July 2018

Bloomberg: Ireland urges flexibility to avoid a ‘bad news’ no-deal Brexit

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called on the European Union to be open-minded in negotiating with the UK, warning that a no-deal Brexit would be “very bad news” for Britain as well as Ireland.

“The EU has always said that if Britain softened its red lines, it would show flexibility in return,” Coveney told reporters in London on Wednesday, referring to Prime Minister Theresa May’s post-Brexit blueprint for Britain’s relationship with the bloc. “We need to test that now.”

May finally put her preference for a soft Brexit into writing this month, including a proposed free-trade area in which British companies would comply with European market regulations for manufactured goods and agricultural and food products. The EU’s earlier draft guidelines for negotiations point out that the bloc could offer a more ambitious trade deal if the U.K.’s position softened.

Coveney said negotiators must focus on whether Britain’s “asks” could be accommodated while allowing the EU to protect its interests in ensuring the integrity of the single market.

“I believe we can do that,” Coveney said, though he warned that some parts of her proposal would be “challenges” -- including a customs system in which British officials would collect EU tariffs at the U.K. border on goods destined for other countries in the bloc.

More Urgency

He also said progress must accelerate if the two sides are to meet their October deadline for an agreement.

In a BBC Radio interview earlier Wednesday, Coveney said Ireland would “absolutely” back any request by the U.K. to stay in the EU after March 2019 to give more time for negotiations. He later told reporters that Ireland would keep an “open mind,” but that it was still too early in the process to be trying to “buy time.” [...]

Full article on Bloomberg

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