EU to guarantee Irish soft-border in first divorce bill draft
The European Union will release the first complete draft of its Brexit divorce bill this week, where it will spell out that Northern Ireland will remain part of the single market and customs union to secure a soft-border if no other agreement is made.
In the first round of Brexit negotiations, Britain and the EU hit a deadlock in December over the Irish border and its status post-Brexit after Northern Ireland’s DUP lashed out at Prime Minister Theresa May for suggesting that Northern Ireland could have a regulatory divergence to maintain a soft border.
A senior EU diplomat has now said that this is the only viable option to support the Good Friday agreement if there are no other mutually-agreed deals. This could become another test for the UK government and Theresa May’s leadership if certain political groups do not agree to the bill.
For now the EU and the UK have agreed on three options regarding the island of Ireland.
The first option states that if the EU and the UK were to have a closer relationship altogether and Britain was to remain in the EU structures there would be no need for a hard border in Ireland. Although, this option seems highly unlikely since May has already ruled out staying in the customs union and the single market.
The second option needs the UK to spell out specific solutions that apply only to the region of Ireland and its circumstances. The EU has dismissed this option because they don’t believe the UK could provide any solutions that will be accepted by EU regulation.
The last option says that if there are no other agreements, Northern Ireland will maintain full alignment with the single market and the customs union rules.
EU lawyers have said they will leave no room for ambiguity about the status of the Irish border, something that the Irish government has been very intent on securing.
The Irish deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney has said the Irish government and the EU are of one mind in terms of the divorce bill and the Irish border issue, “The Irish government is very happy with the content that you will see published on Wednesday.”
“Our preference will be to try and solve a lot of the Irish border issues and Irish issues through an option A, which hopefully we hear an awful lot more about from the British Prime Minister on Friday,” he said.
“We are not looking to try and put pressure on anybody. We are simply looking to translate into a clear, legal language a text that has already been agreed politically before Christmas. That has to happen at some point in time.”
The divorce bill that will be released this week will cover all aspects of the divorce and transition out of the EU but not a trade deal. Formal talks on trade will begin once the UK leaves the EU in 2019.