Ireland will 'play tough' over next phase of Brexit talks
2 min read
Ireland's European Commissioner has promised his government will "play tough to the end" after it threatened to block the progress of Brexit negotiations.
The EU is pressuring Theresa May to come up with a solution to the thorny issue of the Irish border before December's crunch European Council summit.
The Prime Minister has so far insisted she will not allow a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, although she is equally committed to pulling the UK out of the EU's customs union.
The Irish government has vowed to block talks moving onto trade if there is any suggestion of re-introducing customs checks along the 310-mile border.
But eurosceptic DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose MPs are propping up Mrs May's government, has written to EU leaders making clear she will not accept any suggestion that a new trade border could be imposed between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
She has also rejected any plan that could see Northern Ireland "mirror European regulations" unlike the rest of the UK.
But Phil Hogan, the European commissioner for agriculture, promised his government would "play tough to the end" in pursuit of an open border on the island of Ireland.
“If the UK or Northern Ireland remained in the EU customs union, or better still the single market, there would be no border issue. That's a very simple fact” he told the Observer.
And he launched a scathing attack on the UK's approach to the negotiations so far, saying: "I continue to be amazed at the blind faith that some in London place in theoretical future free trade agreements.
"First, the best possible FTA with the EU will fall far short of the benefits of being in the single market. This fact is simply not understood in the UK.
"Most real costs to cross-border business today are not tariffs – they are about standards, about customs procedures, about red tape. These are solved by the single market, but not in an FTA.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
