Must Read : EU freezes Brexit talks until Britain produces 'realistic' Irish border solution - Risingsuntv

Donald Tusk says negotiations on other
issues will not progress until the Ireland
question has been dealt with



The EU has thrown down an ultimatum to Theresa
May in Brexit talks, warning that it will not open
discussions about trade or other issues until the
Irish border question is solved.


Speaking in Dublin alongside the Irish Prime
Minister Leo Varadkar, European Council President
Donald Tusk said talks would be a case of “Ireland
first” and that “the risk of destabilising the fragile
peace process must be avoided at all costs”.

“We know today that the UK Government rejects a
customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea,
the EU single market, and the customs union,” the
Mr Tusk said.

“While we must respect this position, we also
expect the UK to propose a specific and realistic
solution to avoid a hard border.

“As long as the UK doesn’t present such a solution,
it is very difficult to imagine substantive progress in
Brexit negotiations.

“If in London someone assumes that the
negotiations will deal with other issues first before
the Irish issue, my response would be: Ireland first.”

British negotiators have long been keen to move to
discussions about trade and had hoped to do so
after the March meeting of the European Council in
two weeks, but Mr Tusk’s latest ultimatum
suggests further delays could be in store.

The EU
says a withdrawal agreement must be negotiated
by October to give it time to ratify the deal before
the UK falls out of the bloc in March 2019.

Mr Tusk recalled that the Good Friday Agreement,
whose 20th anniversary is next month, had been
“ratified by huge majorities north and south of the
border”.


“We must recognise the democratic decision taken
by Britain to leave the EU in 2016 – just as we must
recognise the democratic decision made on the
island of Ireland in 1998 with all its consequences,”
he said, in a play on the rhetoric used by Brexiteers
regarding the 2016 EU referendum.

The EU27 nations granted the UK “sufficient
progress” to move to the rest of Brexit talks in the
December meeting of the European Council after
the UK made a commitment to avoid a hard border
on the island of Ireland at all costs.

The joint report agreed by both sides stated that
the UK would maintain regulatory alignment with
the EU to prevent a hard border – unless another
solution could be found, either specifically for
Ireland, or as part of the wider trade deal.


Since that agreement, however, the UK has ruled
out a trade deal solution by reiterating its
commitment to leave the customs union and single
market, has ruled out a customs border between
the province and Great Britain, and has not
produced detailed specific proposals for avoiding a
hard border.

 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has
also poured cold water on the issue, downplaying
the UK’s commitment to avoiding a hard border in a
letter to the PM.