UK hits out at Brussels over Ireland 'bargaining chip' claim
2 min read
The UK has hit out at the European Commission after it accused the Government of using the peace process as a "bargaining chip" in Brexit negotiations.
At a briefing yesterday an EU official accused Britain of failing to provide proper answers to the thorny issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The UK has so far said it wants to continue with an "invisible border", using technological solutions to avoid a hard border on the island.
The Brussels official was withering on the key issue of the Northern Irish border, telling the Guardian: “What we see in the UK paper is a lot of magical thinking about how an invisible border would work in the future.
“If you look at the Irish paper, it is very good on aspirations but it is short on workable solutions.”
The diplomat also suggested the UK was trying to use the Belfast agreement as a negotiating tool to ensure a better trade deal.
"We are concerned by the linkages created in the UK paper on Ireland, between the preservation of the peace process, including the invisible border and the future of the EU-UK trade relationship … and, in that context, we say the peace process must not be a bargaining chip in these negotiations.”
'HUMAN SENSITIVITIES'
That prompted an angry response from the Department for Exiting the European Union.
“This type of language suggests they don’t properly understand the sensitivities or human costs behind the hard-won progress in Northern Ireland,” an official told the Times.
“This is not a game with bargaining chips.
“This briefing is puzzling. We have already published a paper on Northern Ireland which sets out our clear position, as well as how we can make quick progress on protecting the common travel area and upholding the Belfast agreement in all its parts.
“It’s self-evident that discussions around the future of the Irish border will require a conversation about the future partnership between the UK and EU,” he added.
It comes after the Government this week released a series of position papers this week in an attempt to move the discussions on. The documents covered areas such as judicial cooperation, data protection and the future trade in goods and services.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
