Bring on those thrilling trade talks, I hear you say.
The news from Brussels has brought the first phase of the Brexit talks to a “satisfactory conclusion,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this morning, although we should all remain cautious of a few more obstacles.
After a troubling Monday, when DUP leader Arlene Foster upset the initial hopes of creating a soft border between Ireland and the North by rejecting any “regulatory alignment” with the European Union, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and European CommissionerJean-Claude Juncker has calmed the nerves for now.
Speaking at a joint conference with Juncker, May said that she would “guarantee there will be no hard border.”
Adding that the rights of the three million EU citizens living in the UK would have their rights “enshrined in UK law and enforced by British courts”, she went on to say that without any “agreed solutions” the UK will “maintain full alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union, which… support north-south cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 agreement.”
“[W]e will uphold the Belfast Agreement and in doing so we will continue to preserve the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom”, she said.
Naturally, this has brought out a few people delighted to poke fun at the ‘Brexit Means Brexit’ crew.
I'm just waiting for Brexiters to entirely absorb the sentence “in the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with the rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union".
You really stuck it to those meddling Eurocrats, didn't you.#Brexit
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) December 8, 2017
Turning the situation into that cliched moment of reflection in a rom-com, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said, “We all know breaking up is hard, but breaking up and building a new relationship is harder.”
I’ve sent #Brexit guidelines for 2nd phase to EU27 leaders. While being satisfied with today's agreement, let's remember that the most difficult challenge still ahead. Breaking up is hard. But breaking up and building a new relationship is much harder.https://t.co/dH6isGt11H
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) December 8, 2017
Keeping the EU line of comparing this to a bad romantic movie, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said, “sufficient progress has now been made on the strict terms of the divorce” allowing negotiations to move forward into the trade talks in phase 2. Still, he was happy enough to say a breakthrough was finally reached ahead of the EU Summit on 14 and 15 December.
For anyone who just didn’t have enough metaphors, we got this…
First #Brexit hurdles taken …more to come https://t.co/D6DlQkrj5T
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) December 8, 2017
Some need to escape reality to cope with it properly.
In Leinster House, Leo Varadkar agreed, saying it was a “satisfactory conclusion”, before attempting to stress to the Unionist community in the North that he recognised their concerns and had no “hidden agenda”, which is a very diplomatic way of responding to Foster’s accusation that those sly Republicans wanted to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
That said, Leo wanted to put across the point that this was only Phase 1, hinting slightly at the fact we’re not done yet in among the general ‘We did it’ remarks.
“We do not want to see a border in the Irish Sea, any more than we want to see a border between Newry and Dundalk or between Letterkenny and Derry. We want to build bridges, not borders. We want to free travel and free trade to continue as it does now and has done for 20 years.”
We have achieved all we set out to achieve in Phase 1. This is not the end but it is the end of the beginning. The Good Friday Agreement is fully protected & the Common Travel Area will continue. The UK is committed to avoiding a hard border. #Brexit pic.twitter.com/kMxIMgBuAn
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) December 8, 2017
Tánaiste Simon Coveney was a bit more excited in his response, having a bit of fun hammering home the Irish line by way of the Caps Lock button.
Deal Confirmed! Ireland supports Brexit negotiations moving to Phase 2 now that we have secured assurances for all on the island of Ireland – fully protecting GFA, peace process, all-Island economy and ensuring that there can be NO HARD BORDER on the Island of Ireland post Brexit
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) December 8, 2017
Up north, there was no comparable excitement to that of Coveney as the DUP issued their own statement, insisting while the news was good, “there is still more work to be done to improve the paper”. More specifically, they remain a little irked about alignment and its exact definition.
Striking distinction between what
Irish Government & DUP are saying in response to the #Brexit deal. Dublin, categorically: "We have achieved all of our goals".
Arlene Foster: "There are still matters we would have liked to see clarified; we ran out of time essentially".— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) December 8, 2017
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon remained frank as always, saying it’s bad, but it’s good essentially. The least enthusiastic of all participants, reminding everyone that she wishes Brexit wasn’t a reality, once more, she made it clear that Scotland should be entitled to the same alignments given to Northern Ireland.
Move to phase 2 of talks good – but devil is in the detail and things now get really tough. If #Brexit is happening (wish it wasn’t) staying in single market & customs union is only sensible option. And any special arrangements for NI must be available to other UK nations.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 8, 2017
It’s hard not to love a cynical leader, really,
And now, let us all cheer as the second phase begins on trade, featuring all of the jargon and hopefully a few more shots of Leo’s mug.
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