EU – Page 30 – Slugger O'Toole

What the Immigration Proposal Leak Tells Us

Gerry Lynch on September 6, 2017, 11:00 pm

| Readers 2546

Whoever leaked the government’s outline plans for post-Brexit immigration arrangements yesterday has told us one thing – that the infighting at the top ranks of the Conservative Party is vicious and will be ongoing for the foreseeable. The papers could only have been leaked on instructions from the very top of the government. Those at both ends of the government’s internal debate on Brexit might have motives for doing so, but more of that in a moment. A flexible negotiating …

#Brexit: A Revolution Drifting Towards Failure

Gerry Lynch on September 2, 2017, 12:35 am

| Readers 5084

It is a matter of historical fact that most attempted revolutions fail. Sometimes the ancient regime reasserts itself in a counter-revolution. In other cases, the revolution clears away a creaking old order only to be itself swept away by a third force. The two most significant revolutions of the 20th Century were of the latter type: the double revolutions in Russia in 1917 and Iran in 1978-9. It is worth giving this preamble as Brexit now looks like a revolution …

Lessons from the Brexit debacle for our Executive debacle

Katy Hayward on September 1, 2017, 1:43 pm

| Readers 962

On 10th April next year, familiar political figures and dignitaries (some with slightly less unscathed reputations than others) will gather in Belfast to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement. Northern Ireland is already in the middle of a veritable feast of commemorations, all of which illustrate the entanglement of its history with major events across these islands and beyond: the 700th anniversary of Edward the Bruce’s campaign, the centenaries of the Easter Rising and the Battle …

Ending Brexit deadlock over financial contributions hinges on a transition deal

Brian Walker on September 1, 2017, 10:26 am

| Readers 822

The Irish Times is trumpeting “ breakthrough” in the Brexit talks over guaranteeing to preserve free movement of all European Union citizens between Ireland and Britain. But the headline oversells the overall story which dwells on the absence of breakthrough. . In truth ” free movement for EU citizens” was bound to be the result for the future of the Common Travel Area although the British have been making a meal of it and should have agreed it months ago, to start …

Signs that plates are shifting over Brexit?

Brian Walker on August 30, 2017, 5:14 pm

| Readers 2442

While not exactly a flood tide, the case for Irexit made by economist Ray Kinsella has become a trickle of two. With a few distinguished exceptions, “official” Ireland has bought into the “spin”’. It has made the European Union the custodian of our national interests. It has ceded its responsibility for negotiations on our future relationship with our nearest neighbour and largest single-country trading partner. This makes no sense. The risks of trading the approval of “Europe” for the long-term interests of …

Coveney “Continued membership of this Customs Union and Single Market,or something very like it, is the answer”

David McCann on August 29, 2017, 2:07 pm

| Readers 1844

The Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney addressed the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce this morning about Brexit and some of the British government proposals. In his remarks he urged the UK to remain in the Single Market; Simply put, EU Member States will not countenance a partnership which allows the UK to benefit from full EU access while cutting separate deals with countries that don’t share our standards or systems. And that has obvious implications on this island. For …

Agribusiness post Brexit should be a concern to all of us not just the farming community…

William Kinmont on August 29, 2017, 11:09 am

| Readers 687

The sands of the Brexit egg timer are running down on whether we have a hard or soft boiled outcome, either way, the industry which will be most scrambled by the outcome is agri food. Approximately half of the EU budget has historically been spent on subsidising this industry, almost every farm on every road from Aughnacloy to Athens has been in receipt of a cheque as well as tariff protections which have kept them in business for living memory. …

The EU as much as the British, should not use the Irish border as a a pawn in the Brexit negotiations, and must move on

Brian Walker on August 29, 2017, 10:37 am

| Readers 1090

Fintan O’Toole has been treating us to splendid summer of seminal articles that give the lie to the idea of a silly season. Today he offers the thought that in an echo of the old Churchill phrase, the parishes of Fermanagh and Tyrone are unravelling Brexit. While the image draws us in, it is also slightly forced. I’ve just returned from a break in Fermanagh which included a visit down the Marble Arch Caves. The system, if not the section …

Is Labour’s dramatic shift on Brexit at the top of a slippery slope to remaining within the EU?

Brian Walker on August 27, 2017, 12:12 pm

| Readers 1130

Stand by for a round of attacks by the Tories on Labour for their dramatic shift to a clearer Brexit policy of remaining within the single market and the customs union for a time “as short as possible, but as long as is necessary”. But behind the sound and fury, look carefully too for signs of a split or “nuances” within Conservative ranks. More than ever, Brexit will either become the clear differentiator between the two main parties or create …

Irish national interests and “…the intolerable consequences of a disorderly Brexit.”

Mick Fealty on August 25, 2017, 9:54 am

| Readers 1254

The deeply unsentimental Brendan Keenan is always worth reading, especially on Brexit: When Remain Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexit ministers Liam Fox and Michael Gove issued a statement saying the UK would indeed leave both the customs union and the single market, it looked like a hardening of the position. It certainly showed Mr Hammond positioning himself for the party leadership. But the statement had all three in favour of a transitional arrangement after formal exit in 2019. That is …

Only when they negotiate on trade will we know how the UK plans for customs and the border will fly

Brian Walker on August 17, 2017, 8:54 am

| Readers 2692

It’s clear already that the options easiest to negotiate with the EU in the UK position papers on customs and the Irish border are those which cross UK red lines and point to a soft Brexit by any other name. But this is far from the end of the story. The Institute for Government which has close links with Whitehall warns that free trade proposals will have to emerge first before we know how what sort of runners they really …

“the UK does not want to see border posts for any purpose…”

Mick Fealty on August 16, 2017, 4:51 pm

| Readers 2387

Quickly, here’s a resume of Theresa May’s piece in the Irish News today: On the citizenship rights guaranteed by the Belfast Agreement, our position is clear. Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom, but it is also the permanent birthright of the people of Northern Ireland to hold both British and Irish citizenship. And… We also want the EU funding that has helped victims of the Troubles and cross-community groups to continue at least until the current …

Some bold solutions, several welcome “principles” on dealing with the Irish border. The British paper in full is a serious document

Brian Walker on August 16, 2017, 2:17 pm

| Readers 1576

The British paper on the border is at last the meaty document long called for. It makes a several bold and practical suggestions for a seamless border but leaves much up in the air, laying down “ principles” for future negotiations. Many of these go far beyond the Irish border issues to the heart of Brexit itself. This is why the Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney thinks he smells a rat, warning almost immediately that Ireland will not become a …

If there is to be a hard border, it will be the EU that imposes it, say the British

Brian Walker on August 16, 2017, 7:57 am

| Readers 1679

No surprise then that little new has emerged in the British paper on the border. It’s right that as we shape the unprecedented model, we have some very clear principles. Top of our list is to agree upfront no physical border infrastructure – that would mean a return to the border posts of the past and is completely unacceptable to the UK.” What has become a bit clearer is a key point that the expected chorus of critics from British …

More than a hint of things to come on the Irish border

Brian Walker on August 15, 2017, 4:57 pm

| Readers 1756

Once this period expires, the UK will look to agree either a “highly streamlined” border with the EU, or a new “partnership” with no customs border at all. This is the most optimistic reading of London’s proposal for “a temporary customs union.” introduced by David. It gives a pretty broad clue of what they’ll propose shortly for the Irish border. The customs proposal has met with circumspect replies from Brussels ans Dublin. Something more meaty is bound to greet the …

UK Government publishes its Customs Union proposals

David McCann on August 15, 2017, 2:57 pm

| Readers 843

The UK Government has begun producing a serious of papers outlining its post-Brexit vision for relations between the UK and the European Union. The 14 page document outlines how the UK will seek a transitional period before attempting to set up a system that gives it basically the same access that it has now. There are some Northern Ireland specific proposals, but a paper deal specifically with this issues will be published at a later stage, but back to customs. …

No Irish unity to be got from leaning on the idle end of a long handled shovel

Mick Fealty on August 15, 2017, 11:25 am

| Readers 4039

Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times has something useful to say on the matter of Sinn Fein’s latest push for a United Ireland. (Remember how we were told last June’s general election was to be a poll on whether to have a border poll?) In particular, this: In the context of Ireland’s future, 50 per cent + 1 is not, as Adams claims, “what democracy is about”. That kind of crude, tribal majoritarianism is precisely what the Belfast Agreement is …

More than a wider vision of unionism is needed to take us through Brexit

Brian Walker on August 14, 2017, 11:38 am

| Readers 2526

This article in the Belfast Telegraph by John Wilson Foster is an honourable fret about unionist identity in the light of Brexit. Foster’s answer to the problems of Brexit appears to lie in the creation of a wider unionism closer to British norms. So far so good, but only so far. In his own terms Foster poses the familiar question that has puzzled unionists forever: why is Irish nationalism viewed as “good” and Ulster “nationalism” bad? One sentiment is permissible, …

The UK proposals on the border likely to underwhelm, as the Ref 2 debate hots up

Brian Walker on August 13, 2017, 11:06 am

| Readers 2949

Theresa May has had the temporary excuse of being on holiday to explain away the continuing churn over Brexit inside and outside the government. No more. She returns from holiday this week. Little to comfort her awaits. Rather than a produce a rallying cry the promised publication of several major Brexit policy documents by midweek is likely to give both sides of the debate more ammunition to throw at each other. By themselves they cannot constitute a coherent strategy. But …

Major survey shows deep confusion in UK opinion over Brexit

Brian Walker on August 12, 2017, 1:52 pm

| Readers 1968

Extracts from the BuzzFeed report Many Remain voters now largely agree that Brexit should mean the UK taking full control over its borders, leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and paying only a small “divorce bill” to the EU, according to major new academic research. A groundbreaking project by the London School of Economics and Oxford University surveying more than 3,000 people – which BuzzFeed News has seen exclusively ahead of its official publication – reveals that …