EU wants UK ‘commitment’ to Ireland over Brexit

The EU wants the UK to make a political commitment to maintaining the Good Friday Agreement in a Brexit divorce deal, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

The request will be made by Michel Barnier, the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator, in a set of “guiding principles” for upcoming Brexit talks on Ireland and Northern Ireland, due to be published today.

The paper, seen by the Irish Examiner, places the onus on the UK to find solutions for the Border and warns it not to use Ireland as a test case for a wider EU trade deal.

Specifically, it asks the UK to maintain the political institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement, avoid a hard border, continue North-South co-operation in areas like farming and energy, protect citizenship rights and anti-discrimination rules, and commit to paying out any remaining EU peace funds.

The problem is that many of the rules in place across the island from animal health checks to environmental standards are underpinned by EU law.

“All of this can be sorted if Northern Ireland remains in the customs union,” said Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes.

“But there will be some kind of hard border if you have two different sets of standards.”

The paper also calls for an assurance that the common travel area will continue to function post-Brexit, which was agreed in principle in a third round of Brexit talks last week. It builds on political guidelines signed by EU leaders last April, which call for “flexible and imaginative solutions” for the island of Ireland. Talks on Ireland are being handled separately from negotiations on citizens or money, the EU’s two other priority issues, given the political sensitivity of the issue.

The UK published a position paper on the Republic and the North over the summer, but the document annoyed EU officials as it strayed into customs and post-Brexit trade arrangements. The EU says there must be a “thorough understanding of the other issues beyond customs arrangements” before talks can move on to trade. Both sides had hoped to start trade talks in October but many believe it is now unlikely.