You don’t mean their demands; you mean their proposed solutions. It’s the UK that wants to leave the SM/CU yet guarantee no hard border on the island of Ireland. I cannot think of any solution to this that does not compromise either the integrity of the CU/SM or the integrity of the UK (i.e. a border has to be somewhere); can you? Can anyone?
I agree their proposed solution is extraordinary. So was the British one (Chequers).
So yes, the EU solution does not work. Neither does the British one. That means either the UK softens a line (CU/SM membership, or UK integrity) or the EU softens a line (integrity of the CU/SM), or no deal is possible.
One factual correction - the EU also wants to guarantee no hard border on the island of Ireland - indeed the EU were the first to come up with the interpretation of hard border as “any border”, at a point the UK were still talking about “no hard border” in terms of technical facilitation of the minimal level of border checks required by the CU.
Well May hasn’t been pushing for it because she wants her “frictionless” Chequers-like solution that has effectively been vetoed, and changing direction is not one of her few strengths.
The more I think about this the more I blame May - she’s not saying there has to be a border on the island of Ireland, even though it’s the natural thing that has to give given everyone’s red lines.
The EU “solution” - and in particular holding the entire negotiation hostage over it - is still imperialist bullying though.
I’m not sure. Aside from Boris, nobody in government seemed to have really pushed this line of reasoning.
Here I quote Morgan Freeman in one of the Batman movies, to those advocating we leave and strike our own way in the world, away from this imperialist bully:
Let me get this straight, you think that your client, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante, who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person?
We are still in the phase of unanimity. All countries need to agree, and good luck finding something that would be worth accepting a land border for the Irish.
And if the EU ignores Irish wants, we’ll, I can’t think of a better way of showing the EU to be worthless.
And it’s not like this was a big surprise, this was known in 2016.
I think at the end there will be internal UK customs checks. It’s simply the most logical solution, the “pinkest” red line that will give up first under time pressure.
This solves the big actual problems and is not quite such a big deal, I feel it just needs proper naming to appease the DUP & Co.
I propose to name it “Reverse Canaries Arrangement”: The Canary Islands are fully, constitutionally and indisputably part of Spain (not a colony, territory etc…) But the Canaries are not in the Customs Union, basically because Spain wanted them to retain an incompatible fiscal status, so there are customs checks between mainland Spain and the islands. No big deal.
The Canaries not being in the customs union means that Spain has full control over the Canaries trade policy. (I suspect it’s actually more complex than that, but there’s no element of extraterritoriality)
NI being effectively in the customs union means that the EU would have full control over NI trade policy, without NI being represented (therefore there is an element of extraterritoriality)
Maybe. If May proposes to solve the problem by (say) annexing Ireland, and the EU refuses, is that because they’re being unreasonable and trying to punish the UK? Of course that’s a joke, I think, but I do think Brexiters ought to consider that, just as May has some lines she may not cross, so have the EU.
It isn’t very hard to find people saying Ireland should quit the EU and or rejoin the UK while reading some of that press. Rhymes well with the neo-victorian steampunkish vibe of some Brexiteers. I now should photoshop some goggles onto a pic of Jacob Rees-Mogg wearing his tophat.
Of course, NI voted to let the EU control its trade policy. Nor does it currently have a local government, and only part of its population has any representation in Westminster.
NI voted to let the EU control its trade policy with NI as part of UK as part of the EU. Again, there would be no extraterritoriality concern in that scenario.
I’d take more away from that article if the author offered any suggestion as to how to resolve the border question. To me, to wonder whether either side is making too much of it sidesteps the obvious: The day after Brexit day, how the Ireland / Northern Ireland border functions is a real question, one that has to be answered before then if anyone is going to do anything to make it happen. You can kick the can down the road only by accepting a transitional period in which the UK basically operates as Norway does, but I don’t really grasp any other way to put it off. What’s the suggestion?
I’m not ignoring your key point - I’m simply not seeing what that point is supposed to be.
But let me spell out what violates core principles, since you can’t see it: open borders. The UK is not getting access into the EU common market through Ireland. That’s the simple answer (there are of course all sorts of other issues tied up in that border, not least the influence of Ireland on this question - but the necessary regulation of the border is the first red line - the second is that Ireland wants a solution without hard borders that won’t end in chaos with the first Westminster government that disagrees with May’s positions).
So your point is? That the EU should agree to a deal because May has put herself and her government in an untenable position in her bid for more power? Here’s the thing - the EU actually does, and has proposed numerous ways to sugar the pill. But just a reminder, given you’re constantly accusing the EU of moving the goalposts. The fact is, the backstop deal you’re now saying is completely unacceptable, is one that the UK government agreed to last year. It is the solution to an otherwise intractable issue - the Irish border - that the UK itself has no good solution to, and clearly hadn’t given a thought to before leaving the EU. And it is the UK who decided to back out of that agreement.
Which is why the EU is now saying it is up to the UK to propose a viable solution to the issue, if the EU proposals are not acceptable. But at the end of the day, the interests of the Union are the only thing that matter to the EU. That is the reality of politics.
