Ireland 'threat to veto Brexit trade talks' over border issue
The Irish EU commissioner says his country will "play tough" and the solution to the border issue is to stay in the customs union.
Sunday 26 November 2017 12:36, UK
Ireland may threaten to use its EU veto to prevent Brexit talks from moving on to trade because of issues around its border, its EU commissioner has warned.
Phil Hogan, the EU's agriculture commissioner, has told The Observer his country wants guarantees there will not be a hard border after the UK leaves the EU.
The Irish border is one of three issues that have to be resolved before the EU will allow talks to progress to discussions about future trade relations.
The risk that customs posts and other controls could be established on roads into and out of Northern Ireland has emerged as the major obstacle to the EU approving the progression of negotiations when its leaders meet at a summit in a few weeks.
It comes after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which controls the balance of power at Westminster, restated its determination there will be no effective moving of the border to the Irish Sea in an attempt to overcome the hard border problem.
Some in the Irish government have suggested that a hard border could be avoided if Northern Ireland is given special status and remains in the customs union, even if the rest of the UK does not.
But unionists are anxious that such an arrangement would create an "internal barrier" between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
:: Liam Fox puts UK at odds with Ireland over border issue
Mr Hogan said the solution may be for the UK to remain in the customs union - something that the most staunch Brexiteers in Theresa May's Cabinet and party are unlikely to accept.
The Irish EU commissioner told The Observer newspaper it was a "very simple fact" that remaining in the single market and customs union would end the standoff, and Ireland will "continue to play tough until the end".
He said: "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.
"I continue to be amazed at the blind faith that some in London place in theoretical future free trade agreements (FTAs).
"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."
On Saturday, at the DUP conference, party leader Arlene Foster told delegates: "We will not support any arrangements that create barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom or any suggestion that Northern Ireland, unlike the rest of the UK, will have to mirror European regulations."
Meanwhile, it has emerged the UK could be forced to adhere to any new EU regulations after it leaves the bloc, during any transition period.
Theresa May set out proposals for a post-Brexit transition phase, when EU rules will continue to apply, when she addressed EU leaders in Florence in September.
The Independent website says it has obtained policy documents drawn up by EU negotiator Michel Barnier which are thought to be a recommendation to the other 27 member states that a transition phase would involve "automatic application in the UK of new EU rules post-30 March 2019".
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, is among those who has said he would not be willing to accept further regulations from Brussels.