08 June 2018

The Guardian: Barnier criticises May's UK-wide Brexit backstop plan

“Backstop means backstop,” the EU’s chief negotiator told a press conference in Brussels, as he insisted the UK needed to be pragmatic and accept that Northern Ireland would have to be treated differently to the rest of the country, with checks taking place on goods travelling across the Irish Sea.

The backstop plan is set to snap into effect should a free trade deal or technological solution not be in place by the end of the transition period to prevent the need for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The EU has suggested that Northern Ireland effectively stay in the customs union and adhere to large parts of the single market rules in such a scenario, a proposal flatly rejected by Downing Street as it would create a border within the UK.

Barnier said the EU was willing to consider the prime minister’s suggestion – made in a document published on Thursday – that the UK stay in the customs union after the transition period to avoid some checks, although he said it could not be a “time limited” arrangement. But he would not countenance the UK staying in parts of the single market, as that would be cherry-picking access.

The UK has yet to say what it would do with regard to avoiding the border checks necessary on goods travelling in and out of the single market.

Barnier said, however, that there could be no suggestion of the UK as a whole taking advantage of the offer made for Northern Ireland to stay in regulatory alignment and therefore avoid the need for checks on goods travelling to and from the EU.

He detected, he said, a sense of of nostalgia among some British negotiators for the privileges of EU membership, but the bloc had been clear that it was not willing to grant “à la carte” single market access.

“Sometimes I sense in those proposals some sort of nostalgia at the moment of leaving the European Union, since you want to stay everywhere without ever again respecting the regulatory framework,” Barnier said, saying UK ministers including Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, had put forward “all sorts of proposals that surprise us, that appear paradoxical.”

“We respect Britain’s red lines. I’d wish the British would respect their own red lines too.”

He added: “Let me be clear: our backstop cannot be extended to the UK. Why? Because it has been designed for the specific situation of Northern Ireland ... Let’s go back to pragmatism.” [...]

Full article on The Guardian

Press statement by Michel Barnier following this week's round of negotiations

Related article on The Independent: Britain could keep frictionless trade after Brexit by joining EEA and customs union, Michel Barnier says

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