The EU wants to continue to accommodate London in the Brexit dispute over the so-called backstop for Ireland. „We know that there is a mistrust in the UK, the backstop could be a trap in which the British are forever bound to the EU,“ said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier the „world“. „That’s not the case.
And we are ready to provide further guarantees, assurances and clarifications that the backstop should only be temporary. “
The backstop is the guarantee required by the EU for an open border between the EU country Ireland and the British Northern Ireland. Until another solution is found, Britain is to remain in a customs union with the EU. Many Brexit advocates reject this because they fear a lasting close bond with the EU.
However, according to Barnier, the Europeans will not allow a time limit or a one-sided exit from the British: „What can exist is the commitment to limit the backstop through an agreement on the future relationship. And this in the form of an interpretive document, „he emphasized.
