Speaking to reporters on his third visit to Ireland since the referendum, Michel Barnier said he was “not optimistic” and “not pessimistic” but “determined” that the two sides can break the current impasse on talks.
He repeated recent declarations that unless Britain came up with fresh thinking on how to avoid a hard border by the June EU council summit, further talks were in danger of collapsing.
“Until we reach this agreement and this operational solution for Northern Ireland, a backstop [solution], and we are ready for any proposal … there is a risk, a real risk,” he said.
But he hinted that the UK would not have to come up with the final deal for Ireland, describing the June summit as “a stepping stone” to the October deadline for the wider Brexit deal to be completed.
The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said Britain’s “approach to negotiations will need to change in some way” if there is to be agreement over the issue.
Appearing alongside Varadkar and his deputy, Simon Coveney, Barnier said the EU was “absolutely united” on the Irish question but wanted to work with the UK to find a practical solution.
Coveney warned that there would be “difficulties” at the next EU council summitin June in progressing to wider Brexit talks unless the UK commited to wording for a “backstop” solution for the Irish border.
Irish and EU negotiators are getting increasingly exasperated by what they see as Britain’s refusal to move forward on talks on the border issue before the June deadline.
“The British government has red lines all over the place and expects the EU to accommodate them. We have red lines, so does the EU, but nobody seems to focus on that,” said Coveney.
“It is not OK for the British government to rule out a whole series of options and then pretend that somebody, somewhere is going to find a solution to find a way forward. The next move is Britain’s in the negotiations,” he said.
The UK signed up to three options for Northern Ireland in December. The preference on all sides is option A which involves an overall deal obviating the need for border checks post-Brexit.
Option B is a bespoke solution and option C would be regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which the DUP says is tantamount to a border in the Irish Sea.
Barnier said: “We all believe the best outcome for all would be a very close relationship between the UK and EU.
“This is an extraordinary negotiation, very complex, extraordinarily complex and we want to succeed with the UK, not against the UK,” he added.
Asked to comment on accusations by Arlene Foster that he was “not an honest broker” in negotiations because he did not understand where unionist opposition was coming from, Barnier said his door remained open to the DUP leader.
He said he would not engage in “polemics” with the DUP and had chosen a path that did not involve “aggression” from day one in negotiations.
Varadkar said Ireland’s goal was an invisible border, not a united Ireland.
“There is no question of Ireland or the EU being interested in a land grab in NI, that’s is not our position at all,” he said.
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