No 10 says UK will 'never' accept Ireland-only backstop as proposed by EU
Downing Street has issued a response to what Michael Barnier in his news conference. It confirms that the UK government will not accept an Ireland-only backstop, which is what the EU is proposing. (See 1.38pm.) A government spokespersons said:
The prime minster has been clear that we will never accept a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. We are also committed to maintaining the integrity of our own internal market. That position will not change. The commission’s proposals did not achieve this, which is why we have put forward our own backstop solutions for customs.
All parties must recall their commitment in the joint report to protect the Belfast agreement in all its parts.
Michel Barnier has confirmed today that discussions will now continue on our proposal.
Here is the text of Michel Banier’s opening remarks at the press conference. It is the text as delivered, which means most of it is in French.
An English version will be available later.
Barnier insists May's Brexit backstop plan has not been already rejected by EU
Michel Barnier has now put out a tweet clarifying his remarks at the press conference.
Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier)To avoid any confusion between the EU backstop & the UK customs paper: I reiterate that our backstop cannot apply to whole UK. 4 freedoms are indivisible. This is not a rejection of the UK customs paper on which discussions continue. #Brexit
June 8, 2018
Barnier says EU will not be 'intimidated' by Britons blaming it for UK losing benefits of EU membership
Here is the Press Association’s first take on the Michel Barnier press conference.
Brussels will not be “intimidated” by Britons who try to blame the EU for their inability to secure the Brexit deal they want, chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said.
Barnier was speaking as he said that Theresa May’s proposals for a backstop customs arrangement in Northern Ireland raise a series of “difficult” questions.
Speaking in Brussels, Barnier said it was not necessarily “feasible” to extend the EU’s offer of continued participation in key elements of the customs union in Northern Ireland to cover the whole of the UK, as the Prime Minister’s proposal suggests.
And he said MMay’s insistence that the arrangement must be time-limited meant that it could not be regarded as a true backstop, providing a fallback option if the UK’s preferred permanent solution could not be agreed.
“Backstop means backstop,” he said. “The temporary backstop is not in line with what we want or what Ireland and Northern Ireland want and need.”
Barnier said it appeared that some Brexit supporters wanted to offload on to Brussels the blame for the fact that the UK cannot continue to enjoy some of the benefits of EU membership after leaving.
But he said: “We are not going to be intimidated by this form of blame game.”
Here is some critical reaction to what Michel Barnier said.
From Henry Newman, director of the Open Europe thinktank and a former special adviser to Michael Gove
Henry Newman (@HenryNewman)Before everyone falls over themselves about @MichelBarnier comments on backstop only applying to Northern Ireland remember that this was always going to be their argument. The EU has offered cherry picked solution to NI and don’t want it to apply more broadly. UK needs to insist
June 8, 2018
From Hugh Bennett, the deputy editor of the BrexitCentral website
Hugh Bennett (@HughRBennett)So Barnier confirms he still:
June 8, 2018
a) Wants the EU to annex Northern Ireland
b) Has no respect for the December deal
c) Has no respect for the Good Friday Agreement
d) Has no respect for the views of the Unionist community
But it's the UK that's being unreasonable, right? https://t.co/rAxxSf8fQB
Q: If the backstop cannot apply to the whole of the UK, why are you even bothering to continue looking at the document?
Because I look at all British proposals in an impartial manner, he says.
He refers journalists to paragraph 49 of the joint report (pdf) from December, where the backstop was originally proposed.
He is getting to know Ireland well, he says. He thinks the practical solutions in the EU plan would not undermine British constitutional order. It is a form of decentralisation to resolve a specific problem, where the UK has a responsibility. It is a co-guarantor of the Good Friday agreement, he says.
And that’s it.
I will post reaction and a summary shortly.
Q: Have you already started talking about issues like state aid?
Barnier says it depends what time scale you are talking about.
This is from Bloomberg’s Tim Ross.
Tim Ross (@TimRoss_1)Theresa May's Brexit crisis is back on. The whole point of publishing the backstop document yesterday was to ensure it was worded in such a way that @MichelBarnier would NOT do what he's just done: reject it out of hand.
June 8, 2018
This is from Politico Europe’s Tom McTague.
Tom McTague (@TomMcTague)Uh oh! Michel Barnier rejects UK Brexit backstop plan. Crisis coming. https://t.co/Uzf7uPPcNy
June 8, 2018
And this is from PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield.
Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor)So apart from Barnier rejecting Theresa May's plan to keep the whole of the UK aligned with the EU, and her plan to time-limit the backstop, I'd say it's gone down pretty well in Brussels.
June 8, 2018
Q: Will you categorically rule out the idea of a shared customs territory, applying to goods, after Brexit? The UK paper proposes a time limited version of this. Are you saying time limiting it is not possible because you don’t think there will ever be a long term solution to the Irish issue?
Barnier says the EU council has said clearly there will be no a la carte access to the single market, services, goods or people. He says the UK used to be very committed to the single market. They are familiar with the rules. They have to decide: when they leave, do they accept the rules or not?
He says he only saw the UK document yesterday. He will continue to look at this. Is it a temporary backstop? No, backstop means backstop.
And the UK plan does not address the question of regulatory alignment.
If there is going to be no hard border in Northern Ireland, there must be an agreement on customs, as the UK proposed. But there must be something on regulatory alignment. That is what is missing.
Q: The joint report in December said there would be no border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The UK government has come up with a backstop plan that tries to make that possible. Was it wrong for the EU to agree the joint report if you want accept a plan to implement it?
Barnier says he has raised a series of questions. He awaits answers.
Barnier says there are no trade negotiations at the moment. The EU cannot negotiate with another EU state.
He says the negotiations will open after 30 March 2019.
After that time will be tight, he says.
He says the withdrawal agreement will go hand in hand with a political declaration on the future trade relationship.
He says the EU is working on its offer for the future partnership.
There will have to be a bilateral agreement on aviation, because the UK has decided to leave the single sky arrangement.
He says the EU is exploring all possible ways of building a new relationship with the UK. But it will be a third country after Brexit, he says. There are various tools that can be used.
Matthew Holehouse (@mattholehouse)Barnier: “Sometimes you detect an element about nostalgia about belonging to the EU. They want to remain in just about everything, without having to respect the regulatory framework. They have to assume the consequences.”
June 8, 2018
Q: Boris Johnson says Donald Trump would do the negotiations better for the UK, a meltdown may be coming, but we shouldn’t panic. Do you agree?
Barnier says he will not comment on what Johnson said.
He says he tries to be very calm.
He says the EU is drawing up its position taking account of the British red lines, set out by Johnson and the British government.
We respect the British red lines. It would be perhaps good if the British could respect their own red lines.
He says, if the UK were to adjust their red lines, the EU would adjust their offer.
- Barnier reiterates EU’s willingness to improve its offer if May abandons some of her red lines.
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