'It's difficult to accept' Irish PM reveals he could be READY to BLOCK Brexit trade talks
THE IRISH Prime Minister has revealed he could be ready to block Brexit trade talks if a satisfactory solution to the Irish border issue is not found.
The European Union has refused to start talks with Britain on the terms of its future relationship with the bloc until it satisfies Brussels on three areas – the Irish border, divorce settlement and EU citizens’ rights.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said Britain had until December to reach a solution if trade negotiations are to begin by Christmas.
When asked whether he would be happy to veto the agreement, Mr Varadkar said he wouldn’t but wanted reassurances over the border between the UK and Ireland.
He told Sky News: “I am not in the business of threatening vetoes, I don’t think that would be a constructive way to come to an agreement – and we do want to come to an agreement.
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We should never forget that Brexit is a British policy, it’s one that has imposed on the rest of Europe
“But, we do have a national interest here at stake.
“Our island was partitioned 100 years ago, we spent 100 years trying to bring people together and the Good Friday Agreement was crucial to that.
“There is a political border on our border between north and south, but there isn’t any trade border – people cross freely, cross-border workers trade every day – it would be very difficult for us to accept anything short of a written commitment that the British Government means what it says.”
The Irish PM insists he is hopeful that trade talks can begin, but took a swipe at the UK for its decision to leave the EU.
He added: “We should never forget that Brexit is a British policy, it’s one that Britain has imposed on the rest of Europe, it’s causing enormous difficulties for all of Europe and Ireland in particular.
“To me, it seems that after 40 years of marriage, most of them good, Britain now wants a divorce and wants an open relationship the day after, that’s a very difficult position to accept.”
Donald Tusk, having spoken with Theresa May in Sweden, claimed “good progress” had been made on citizens’ rights, but the UK was still nowhere a solution for the Irish border or the so-called divorce bill.
He added: “We will be ready to move onto the second phase in December but, in order to do so, we need to see more progress from the UK side.
“If there is not sufficient progress by then, I will not be in a position to propose new guidelines on the future relationship at the December European council.
“I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that this progress needs to be made at the beginning of December at the latest.”
Speaking after the talks, Mrs May said there was “more work to be done” ahead of the next full EU summit next month.
