21 June 2018•Update: 21 June 2018
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
“There is now an urgent need to intensify our efforts ” to achieve a withdrawal agreement between the EU and the U.K., Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has warned Thursday.
“The withdrawal agreement must include a legally binding backstop so that there can not be a hard border on the island of Ireland in the future,” Varadkar said., adding “a backstop cannot have an expiry date.”
Speaking at a joint news conference alongside the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Dublin, Varadkar said: “Unless everything is agreed, nothing is agreed.”
The Irish premier said there was not much time left to reach an agreement between the EU and the U.K.
Showing full solidarity with Ireland, Juncker said the border issue was not a question between Ireland and the U.K. but an issue between the EU and the U.K.
“We wanted to make clear again and again that Ireland is not alone,” Juncker said.
“We have Ireland backed by 26 member states and by the [European] Commission; this will not change,” he added.
Juncker said he was “strongly against any temptation” to try to isolate Ireland and not to conclude a withdrawal deal.
“Ireland has to be part of the deal,” he added.
Talks between the U.K. and the EU have focused on the future arrangements on the Irish border. All parties say they do not want to see the return of a hard border between Ireland and the U.K. region in the North.
The border issue has been one of the thorniest issues in Brexit talks.
What is a backstop agreement?
Backstop is a baseball term to define the boards surrounding a baseball pitch to stop the ball if it is not caught or hit.
The term is used in Brexit negotiations to mean the creation of a safety net to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland should the negotiations for U.K. exit from the EU fail to reach a full agreement.
The EU has suggested to align Northern Ireland with the EU customs union as a backstop option, which would create a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
The U.K. said it could not apply that proposal but then suggested a “temporary customs arrangement” between the whole of the U.K. and the EU for a limited period of time after the still-to-be-agreed-upon transition or implementation period, which is to end in December 2020.
Rejecting the U.K.’s proposal, the EU has said London should propose an alternative to avoid a future hard border on the island of Ireland.
Britain is set to leave the EU in March 2019.
