Anyone concerned about progress being made in December on trade talks and a transition period needs to read this article by Tony Connelly on RTE (HERE). As I have said several times, although the money is occupying our newspapers, it will be the Irish border problems that stops the talks in December.
According to Mr Connelly there has been a mapping exercise involving both sides in the talks to determine areas of North/South cooperation in Ireland and the total comes out at 142.
"The deeper you go," says one EU source familiar with the mapping exercise, "the more examples there are, more areas where you find out that actually a lot of the Good Friday Agreement requirements are more implicit than anything else. They rest on the status quo, and that status quo involves membership of the EU single market."
I think this shows three things. Firstly, the immense complexity of this one small but very important part of Brexit. Secondly, how little attention the Brexiteers paid and are still paying to the Irish border question. Thirdly, what it tells us to expect on other small but important issues that have yet to be considered in Brexit.
The Irish PM Leo Varadkar, is threatening to veto any prospect of moving on to talk about trade in December, although as he rightly says it will be the EU27 doing the vetoing. And the author mentions the Taioseach's sharp riposte to the UK position that we can't solve the border problem until trade talks begin. He said Britain had unilaterally ditched membership of the customs union and single market before Phase II had started, which is perfectly true.
It is as usual the government wanting to have its cake and eat it.
The article makes it clear how important this is for Ireland and if they accept a fudge the veto they have at the moment will be given up, potentially for nothing. They intend that does not happen. They want legal clarity on how a hard border can be avoided and won't be satisfied with wishful thinking or mantras. If anything stops the talks moving to trade, this is it.
