Jean-Claude Juncker has told Theresa May in a private phone call that shifting her red lines in favour of a permanent customs union is the price she will need to pay for the EU revising the Irish backstop.
Okay, I realise that the old soak hasn’t had to do anything so grubby as stand for election in order to hold his post, but in our democracy, one parliament cannot bind its successors. Y’know that inconvenient democracy thing…
Jeebus!
“Let me be extremely clear: there is no way I could live in a situation where we throw Ireland under the bus,” Timmermans said. “As far as the European commission is concerned, the backstop is an essential element for showing to Ireland and to the rest of Europe that we are in this together.”
Sigh… The Republic does not want a hard border. The UK does not want a hard border. The Taoiseach has already said that should one have to be implemented, then it won’t be by Irish police or army personnel. As the UK won’t be doing so because, y’know, we don’t want a return to the bad old days and the current arrangement is working just fine, what, precisely, do these bureaucrats expect to do? Send in the EU army? Also bear in mind that products and services crossing the border will have to meet commonly accepted standards between the UK and EU regardless of membership, so not a problem. As for people – well, we have borders at our sea and airports.
So, again, what do they think they are going to do? Invade Ireland and enforce a border neither the UK nor the Republic wants or plans to implement?
Oh and Varadkar is being an arse by claiming that Brexit is victimising Ireland. No it isn’t. Grow up.
Is it possible that the Irish border is an issue because, in the absence of any formal trade deals, it could function as an import and export loophole? There seems to be an awful amount of fuss over what seems to me to be a fairly minor issue, there must be some reason for it.
The Irish issue is a mountain being made out of a molehill, for the simple reason that the EU’s position during BRExit negotiations was so weak, by escalating the situation and using the Gay Indian as a proxy they hoped to turn the Irish border into a poison pill with which to achieve the abandonment of BRExit or some sort of BRINO type arrangement where the EU still gets the British cash it needs to run its crime organization.
That this seems to have bitten the EU on the arse is amusingly ironic, especially if it leads us to a harder BRExit than would have otherwise been the case.
As the Zen Master always says “We’ll see…”
The Irish border would indeed be an open gate in the wall of protectionist Fortress Europe, but this can easily be resolved under existing Customs procedures between UK and RoI which already involve Customs checks and processes both physical and electronic, and other formalities away from the border.
This point has been made so many times by Customs officials and some politicians on all sides, it is remarkable that some people are still yapping on about it.
Not to me. It’s the combination of EU nomenklatura and Remoaner “usual idiots” trying to frustrate or overturn the referendum.
Frankly considering the state of public opinion on both sides of the border regarding the hard border, you have to ask yourself who Leo Varadkar is actually batting for.
The other side.
He’s the WG Grace of the other side!
It is likely, in the main, that the UK will have no difficultly accepting the standard of EU goods, so, providing that the UK chooses not to apply tariffs on EU goods, there would be no need for any kinds of customs checks on the UK side of the border. The border is not known to have been a route for large scale illegal immigration, but whether or not some kind of passport control would be needed will depend on the rights of EU citizens to visit the UK. In these times, knowing who is coming into the UK could be as simple as a few seconds to scan a passport / ID document. But it is possible that this is done without any passport control and managed by having real time access to plane and ship passenger lists between NI and mainland UK. Anyone flagged as being an undesirable could be met off the plane or ferry.
Over time, the standards governing goods will diverge, most likely due to increased EU regulation because of its bureaucratic nature. Consequently, it is likely that some UK goods will not conform to EU regulations. It is up to the EU how it wants to manage this situation on its side of the border, this would also be affected by whether or not the EU wishes to apply tariffs on UK goods. The issue of UK citizens entering the EU through Ireland is again up to the EU, but it could be managed, again, by the EU having access to plane passenger lists out of Ireland.
The UK should be in a position to say to the EU, we’ll not need a hard border in NI because we’ll accept EU goods, don’t intend to charge tariffs and will accept EU visitors into NI so the ball is very much in your court.
The (supposed) problem for the EU is not UK/EU trade but the possibility of the Irish border being used as a conduit for goods from outside the EU and UK to enter the EU via RoI thus avoiding tariffs and non-tariffs at other ports of entry into the EU.
It is particularly tricky when it might involve goods manufactured in the UK incorporating components from rest-of-world, or for example a Chinese company could have an assembly operation in the UK using parts wholly supplied from China.
In the 1980s when the Continentals had told the likes of Sony and Honda they were not welcome, and these companies had instead settled in the UK, there was interminable wrangling over these companies’ products being exported to the rest of the EEC, regarding how much UK content, how much content from Japan.
The EEC/EU = protectionism for some market sectors for political reasons at the expense of consumers and other businesses.
The solution can these days easily be provided via existing structures, certificates of origin, cooperation of British authorities, etc so it is just a manufactured problem for political purpose to bounce the UK into accepting a lousy deal – which the Rt Incompetent Theresa May MP was prepared to accept.
The correct answer would be ‘No deal, Juncker.’ But that would take balls, and unlike the Sainted Maggie, May possesses none.
And the same bollock status is common (if not de rigeur) in what is laughingly called The Conservative Party.
Conservatism died in 1990 (RIP).
So… in order not to be in a Customs Union temporarily (this is de facto the ‘backstop’) albeit with no firm departure date just a promise it will end, the alternative is to stay in a permanent Customs Union. That is to stay in the EU, in all but name.