UK Edition
Brexit talks thrown into chaos after Ireland makes fresh border demands in leaked document
British hopes of opening Brexit trade and transition talks this December were thrown into renewed doubt as it emerged that Ireland is making fresh demands over the Northern Ireland border question, the Telegraph can reveal.
The toughened Irish stance, reflected in a leaked European Commission document obtained by The Telegraph, blindsided British officials at Brexit negotiations in Brussels on Thursday as Ireland piled on pressure in the talks.
British officials had believed that question of how to avoid creating a hard Irish border when the UK quits the EU single market and customs union had been ‘parked’ until the EU opened talks over trade and the future relationship.
However the leaked talking points paper entitled ‘Dialogue on Ireland/Northern Ireland’ shows Ireland is now pushing hard for concrete reassurance on the Irish border question ahead of the crucial EU leaders’ summit in December.
The one-page paper states that in order to preserve the Good Friday Agreement peace deal, the Brexit divorce deal must respect “the integrity of the internal market and the customs union”, of which Ireland will remain a member.
It adds that it is “essential” that the UK commits to avoiding a hard border by remaining part of the EU Customs Union and continues to abide by the “rules of the internal market and customs union”.
It concludes that Britain must ensure “no emergence of regulatory divergence” from the rules of the EU single market and the Customs Union which are “necessary for North South co-operation, the all-island economy and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement.”
The hardline Irish position, which was discussed at EU’s Brexit working group ahead of yesterday’s talks, was described by a senior EU source as reflecting the “state of play” on the Irish question and reflected the “guiding principles” of the EU’s approach to the problem.
The Telegraph understands that Dublin is actually demanding that Britain sign up to some 100 EU rules and regulations, including many covering customs and agriculture, in order to ensure an open trade border between Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland.
Dublin’s demands present an apparently impossible dilemma to London, requiring either the UK remains in the EU customs union and accepts the rules for the entire UK, or gives Northern Ireland special status in the EU that would undermine the territorial integrity of the UK.
UK officials have warned that any attempt to create a ‘special status’ for Northern Ireland would have a potentially catastrophic destabilising effect on the Good Friday Agreement, pitting Unionists and Nationalists against each other.
In August the UK proposed creating an invisible border that would use technology to make trade as “frictionless and seamless a border as possible”, but the proposals were swiftly dismissed as “magical thinking” by senior EU officials.
The Irish pushback comes at a crucial moment in the Brexit talks process which is deadlocked over the question of the Brexit bill, but now risks foundering or being delayed afresh over the intractable question of Northern Ireland.
A second EU source familiar with the talks said that Dublin was “pulling the levers” and had decided to use tensions over the bill as the moment to “exert maximum leverage” and extract concessions from the UK.
“Dublin sees their leverage point is now, as Britain fights to get a ‘sufficient progress’ designation, not in phase two,” the source added.
The gambit also comes just days after James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland Secretary, travelled to Brussels to meet Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator and a host of MEPs and other top EU officials.
Then Mr Brokenshire appeared to airily dismiss the Irish position, telling a seminar that he found it “difficult to imagine how Northern Ireland could somehow remain ‘in’ [the EU] while the rest of the country leaves. I find it impossible,” he said.
The Irish paper flatly challenges that position, with a third EU source telling the Telegraph that there were signs that Dublin could use the ongoing tussle over the €60bn bill as a pretext for holding up ‘sufficient progress’ in the talks.
The department for Exiting the European Union (DexEU) reiterated the UK intended to both leave the single market and customs union, but also avoid a hard North-South border.
“We recognise that the solutions to the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland must respect the integrity of the EU single market and customs union. But they must also respect the integrity of the United Kingdom,” a spokesman said.
“The Government is determined to find specific solutions to Northern Ireland's unique circumstances, not least as the only part of the UK to share a land border with an EU member state.”
Both the Irish ministry of foreign affairs and the European Commission declined to comment on the leaked document. “We do not comment on internal EU working documents,” said spokesmen for both institutions.
However a senior Irish government source confirmed the document reflected the state of play on the issue.
“As was made clear in the conclusions of the October European Council, we need to see strong and tangible commitments to address these issues, and the time to do that is now,” the source said.