Brexit: EU gives Britain June deadline for progress on Northern Ireland border issue

Britain's chief negotiator has said he is aiming for a solution by October instead

Britain and the EU need to reach an agreement on the key points of the Brexit Northern Ireland border issue by June, Michel Barnier has said.

The EU’s chief negotiator, who was speaking at a conference in the Irish border town of Dundalk, warned that talks were at risk of collapse if no agreement was made on a “backstop” to prevent a hard border.

British negotiators are apparently working to a different timetable to the European Commission, with David Davis having said he wants the issue resolved by October.

Mr Barnier’s comments come after a lack of progress on the border issue in talks this year, with just two months remaining until the June meeting of the European Council.

“We need to agree rapidly by June the scope of alignment, what I call the safety controls that are ... to respect the single market,” he said.

“We want to succeed with the UK, not against the UK. Together with the Irish government we are looking for practical solutions.”

He called for a “self-standing backstop” to prevent a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Though political agreement was reached on the need for such a system last December, the exact technical working has not yet been reached.

“The UK’s decision to leave the single market and the customs union creates a risk that the hard border will return. This is why it is necessary to have a self-standing backstop solution,” he said.

We need to agree rapidly by June the scope of alignment

Michel Barnier on the Northern Ireland Brexit issue

“The backstop is not there to change the UK’s red lines. It is there because of the UK’s red lines.”

He warned that “there is a risk, a real risk” that talks would collapse if a backstop was not negotiated.

Mr Barnier is visiting the Republic of Ireland for meetings, where he will also cross the border to Newry in County Down for discussions about Brexit with business leaders there.

His comments come after DUP leader Arlene Foster accused the chief negotiator of not understanding the unionist position on the border. In an interview with the BBC, she said Mr Barnier “hasn’t really responded” to unionist concerns.

“His proposal of us being in an all-Ireland regulatory scenario with a border down the Irish Sea simply does not work,” she said.

“It does not work constitutionally, politically and it certainly does not work from an economic perspective.”

“We’ve tried to get him to understand the unionist position for the people of Northern Ireland but he hasn’t really responded and I’m disappointed about that. I don’t think he does understand the wider unionist culture of Northern Ireland.”

Ahead of the visit, a spokesperson for the European Commission said: “Mr Barnier has already met unionist and nationalist politicians in both Brussels and Strasbourg.

“But the particular focus of this trip will be to meet business stakeholders from across Northern Ireland, including cross-border groups and companies in the border areas of Newry/Dundalk and Derry-Londonderry/Letterkenny and rural representatives in Dungannon.”

Mr Barnier’s comments come after Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, said a deal in October on Northern Ireland would be “late” because other issues had to be agreed between June and October. He too suggested the June council for finalising the Northern Ireland aspect of the deal.

British diplomats in Brussels are confident that a solution can be found to the border, and say they want to make progress as quickly as possible. But they argue that solving the issue needed discussions on the future relationship, which only started last week after months of insistence by the UK.

Brussels has consistently said that the whole withdrawal agreement, including citizens’ rights, the financial settlement, transition period, and Northern Ireland border needs to be agreed by the October meeting of the European Council in order to give time for the deal to be scrutinised and approved by bodies such as the European parliament.

The council, a quarterly Brussels summit attended by the 28 EU heads of state and government, generally has to sign off major decisions made by the European Union. With Britain set to fall out of the EU on 29 March 2019, the only real opportunity for the council to approve any deal after October would be a further summit in December. The next summit is scheduled for 21 March 2019, a date both sides want to avoid dragging talks out until.

Speaking on his own visit to Northern Ireland earlier this month, David Davis said: “As we leave the EU it’s essential both the UK and EU do what it takes to keep the border, which I saw this morning, free from physical infrastructure. We are determined to get this agreed by October.” Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has previously said he would prefer a deal to be done properly by October than done badly in June.