EU issues damning dismissal of Boris Johnson's Brexit backstop plan
Brussels has issued a damning dismissal of Boris Johnson’s Brexit backstop demands, as the prime minister prepares to tour EU capitals in the vain hope of drumming up support for his plan.
Mr Johnson had sent a letter to EU officials calling for the Irish border backstop to be removed from the Brexit withdrawal agreement, but presented no actual alternative to the policy – which has already been repeatedly rejected by the EU side.
Mr Johnson’s letter prompted a fast reaction from the European Union. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council who speaks collectively for EU leaders, effectively accused the prime minister of wanting to wind the clock back on the Northern Ireland peace process, as well as a deception.
“The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found,” Mr Tusk said. ”Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters in Brussels that the Commission was in full agreement with Mr Tusk’s comments.
“You will also have seen that president Tusk has just tweeted his initial reaction to this letter, a reaction that we share,” the spokesperson said.
“From the Commission side we welcome the UK government’s engagement and a continued commitment to an orderly withdrawal. We firmly believe that this is in the best interests of the EU and the UK.
“However, we also note that the letter does not provide a legal operational solution to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland, it does not set out what any alternative arrangements could be, and in fact it recognises that there is no guarantee that such arrangements will be in place by the end of the transitional period.”
Mr Johnson will make his debut on the world stage as prime minister Tuesday and Wednesday this week, in a diplomatic dash to Paris and Berlin to meet with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel. The prime minister is expected to try and make the case for dropping the backstop, which is hated by Tory MPs.
But the EU says it will not drop the backstop, because it is the only way of preventing a hard border from emerging in Ireland after Brexit, given the UK's other decisions to leave the customs union and single market.
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