UK FOREIGN SECRETARY Boris Johnson says that Britain and the EU will ‘work together’ to solve any issues that may arise of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic post-Brexit.
What exactly Britain is planning to do with the border once its exit from the EU becomes official in 2019 is still very much up in the air.
Yesterday, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said in no uncertain terms that Britain would not be allowed to use the Irish border as a ‘test case’ for how it conducts its exit talks with the union.
Today, however, Johnson told AFP during a visit to British troops at a NATO base in Tallinn, Estonia: ”It’s certainly a problem we can all solve together and that’s what we’re going to do.”
I think there is a solution and we’re going to get on and do it.
We’ve had a common travel area for 100 years, nothing must affect that, nothing must affect the ability of farmers to move their stock and for businesses to get on with their lives.
“It is not beyond the wit of man,” he said.
In its position paper last month, Britain said the issue of how goods and people will move across the Irish frontier cannot be separated from discussion about wider customs arrangements between Britain and the European Union.
The EU has refused to broach any aspect of the future trade relationship until Brexit talks have achieved sufficient progress on citizen’s rights, the Irish border and Britain’s financial bill to leave the EU.
With © – AFP, 2017
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