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- European Union calls for Northern Ireland to stay in its customs zone and stick to single market rules after Brexit if a hard border cannot be avoided.
- The EU wants a "common regulatory area" on the island of Ireland which would keep Northern Ireland wedded to Brussels rules and regulations, a draft treaty published on Wednesday confirms.
- The ECJ should also have jurisdiction over Northern Ireland under the model, which has angered Brexiteers in Theresa May's Conservative Party.
- The EU has "run out of patience" with the UK's incoherent position, a well-placed source in Brussels told BI.
- Prime Minister May is reportedly preparing a "robust" fight back.
LONDON — The European Union has formally called for Northern Ireland to remain within its customs territory and stick to single market rules after Brexit if a hard Irish border cannot be avoided.
The text states that Northern Ireland should stay aligned to its rules and regulations as a "backstop" option, if Theresa May cannot come up with a way of avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, in a draft legal text of the withdrawal agreement published on Wednesday morning.
The 120-page treaty, which is subject to approval from the EU27, proposes a "common regulatory area" with "no internal barriers" on the island of Ireland which would allow frictionless trade to continue across the border.
The suggested "common regulatory area" is detailed in scope, covering customs, VAT, energy, agriculture and the environment among other areas. Under the EU's proposal, it would be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, which will rile Brexiteers both within May's Cabinet and elsewhere in the Conservative Party.
The text states:
"This Protocol is based on the third scenario of maintaining full alignment with those rules of the Union's internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement, and that it applies unless and until an alternative arrangement implementing another scenario is agreed."
The treaty also calls for the ECJ to rule on any disputes that arise over the application and interpretation of the withdrawal agreement between the EU and UK government.
"They [the Commission] know the political risks of this but have run out of patience waiting for coherent proposals from the UK," a well-placed Brussels source told Business Insider.
Here are some key paragraphs from the text:
EU Commission
European Commission
The text, which was briefed to Business Insider on Tuesday evening, does not explicitly call for Northern Ireland to stay in the single market if the UK government fails to come up with a workable solution, but lays out areas where it could stay fully aligned with single market rules in order to preserve the invisible border.
It will make clear that this course of action is the default option — or the "backstop" as its known in Brussels — and other solutions to avoiding a hard border remain available, such as a comprehensive UK-EU free trade agreement.
"This Protocol shall not apply or shall cease to apply, as the case may be, in whole or in part, from the date of entry into force of such subsequent agreement and in accordance with that agreement," the text states.
The proposals come as a leaked letter revealed that the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has privately admitted that Brexit could cause a hard border with Ireland.
Johnson privately told May that preventing a hard border should not be the main aim of the UK government.
Prime Minister May is reportedly preparing a "robust" fight-back against the EU's proposal.
A senior Downing Street source told The Times: "We are fully committed to implementing the December agreement but the EU should be absolutely clear that the prime minister is not going to sign up to anything that threatens the constitutional integrity of the UK or its common market."
Former Brexit minister David Jones accused the EU of trying to "annex" Northern Ireland in an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday morning. "The EU are living in fantasy land if they think this is something we could ever accept," he added.
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, rejected claims that the EU was trying to provoke Britain with its proposals on Northern Ireland.
"I'm not trying to provoke. I'm not trying to create shockwaves. I want these negotiations to be a success," he said in a press conference following the publication of the draft treaty.
Caroline Lucas, Green Party co-leader and champion of anti-Brexit group Best For Britain, accused the government of failing to take responsibility for the Irish border issue.
"This document lays bare the failure of the government to significantly move forward on the Northern Irish issue.
"Behind Boris Johnson's absurd rhetoric is a harsh reality — the British Government's intransigence threatens the Good Friday Agreement. The wheels are coming off the Brexit bus and the case for a people's poll on the outcome grows by the day."
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