Elaborate and extensive checks on goods and animals crossing the Irish Border will be necessary in a no-deal scenario, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier reiterated on Tuesday. But where such checks will be remains unclear.
Speaking at a Brussels think tank, he said, "we need to find the way somewhere to implement the checks. We're working with Irish Government to know where we can apply these checks."
“We have to implement everywhere, at each and every external border of the EU three types of controls to protect consumers, food security, animal disease, to protect the budgets of the EU and national budgets, so the fiscal controls for VAT and customs controls, and serve to protect businesses against counterfeiting and ensure the goods entering the EU are meeting standards.
“This is the pre-condition to avoid any kind of controls inside the single market. That’s why we need to find the way somewhere to implement the checks. We’re working with the Irish Government to know where we can apply these checks but I will not elaborate on this point today.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will have talks with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday, and with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Dublin on Thursday, with plans to protect the single market up for discussion.
Mr Barnier echoed comments on Monday by the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt warning that British MPs were facing a last chance to break the deadlock – as things stand, the UK is on course for a no-deal departure on April 12th. He was speaking before British MPs rejected four options for a new way forward on Brexit in indicative votes on Monday night.
Three options
Mr Verhofstadt said that any demand from London for a long extension to article 50 would have to be justified to EU leaders before they would agree to it. “Such an extension would carry significant risks for the EU, therefore a strong justification would be needed,” he said, specifying that would have to mean a commitment to a new approach.
There might be three options: “A new political process, I don’t know what kind of process we’ll see, that gets a majority. The second one would be organising a new referendum and the third one would be national elections. It could be a justification for a long extension of the negotiation to give the UK time for one of these three options.”
He reiterated that the withdrawal agreement remains the only deal on the table. “If the UK still wants to leave the EU in an orderly manner, this agreement is and will be the only one. The only way to avoid a no-deal Brexit is and will be through a positive majority.
“There is a possibility of a successful meaningful vote in the coming days. Still the House of Commons did not manage to find a majority again last night in its second round of indicative votes. We will continue to follow how the process unfolds in the UK.”
"We always said we can accept a customs union or our relationship along the style of the Norway model. The political declaration can accommodate this today. It leaves the door open for a variety of outcomes. We're prepared to rework the political declaration as long as the fundamental principles of the EU are accepted," he said.
“If UK parliament doesn’t vote in favour in the coming days only two options remain. Leaving without an agreement or requesting a longer extension of the article 50 period. It would be the responsibility of the UK government to choose between these two options.”
