Irish backstop clause a red line, cannot be changed: EU on Brexit

A senior European Union official has indicated that efforts for removing or renegotiating the Irish backstop, a controversial clause in Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement, would be in vain because the bloc won’t compromise on the fate of its member Ireland.

EU Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said on Wednesday that the backstop, which sets out rules for how the only land border between Britain and the EU should be regulated after Brexit, was a “red line” for the EU and the bloc could not open its Brexit deal with London for further negotiations on the specific issue.

“We will support Ireland...the backstop is a red line we cannot negotiate with the British government,” Timmermans said while at an event in Krakow, Poland.

The comments come as critics of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal have repeatedly suggested that the only way forward for the ratification of the deal in parliament would be a cancellation of the backstop or changing it in a way that could guarantee the UK would not be trapped in EU’s customs union indefinitely once the clause is triggered at the end of 2020.

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May’s draft Brexit deal with the EU was rejected in the British parliament by a large majority on January 15. She has since then vowed to work with the EU to find a solution to the backstop problem. However, many expect the premier to finally fail to gain parliament support for her Brexit deal.

May has said that if a revised version of the deal is rejected in the House of Commons, she will have no option but to bring the UK out of the EU on March 29 in a disorderly manner.

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