Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has indicated that the Brexit negotiations will not be conducted as British prime minister Theresa May seems to think following her interventions at the European Council summit in Brussels in recent days.
“This isn’t the way the negotiation will be conducted,” he said, in a sharp message to Mrs May.
Mr Varadkar welcomed proposals by the British prime minister on rights for EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, striking a different note to EU leaders who had rejected Mrs May’s plans as insufficient.
Speaking after the conclusion of the European summit in Brussels concluded yesterday, Mr Varadkar said that Mrs May’s proposals were a “positive gesture”.
However, he forcefully declined to give a view on the merits of the British plan and said that the Brexit negotiations would not be conducted in the manner that Mrs May’s intervention at the summit appeared to suggest.
Mr Varadkar said that the EU would respond to the British proposals with one voice at the negotiating table – that of Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator. He said the rest of the EU leaders were "very adamant" that negotiations would proceed in the way that had been agreed.
Despite Mrs May’s contributions at the summit, he said it was “still an open question what kind of Brexit” that Britain wanted.
He again suggested that the UK might change its mind on leaving the customs union and he said that if in the future the UK decided that it wanted rejoin the EU, “they would be welcomed back with open arms as far as I am concerned.”
Mr Varadkar said that he had spoken to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney last night, as he had done every day. Mr Coveney was briefing him on a daily basis on the Northern talks, he said. He sidestepped questions about Mr Coveney's declaration yesterday that the Government was seeking a "special status" for Northern Ireland, saying that it didn't matter whether it was called "special status, special measures, special arrangements" it didn't change what the Government was seeking – the preservation of an open border and the trading relationships between Ireland and the UK.
However, he clarified that the Government not seeking special status "within the EU" for Northern Ireland. "We understand that if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, then all parts of the United Kingdom will leave with it," Mr Varadkar said.
Belfast Agreement
Asked about Government concerns that any deal between the British Conservatives and the DUP could impinge on the British responsibilities under the Belfast Agreement, Mr Varadkar said that other European leaders had inquired about the consequences for the agreement of the Brexit process in general.
“I suppose all we can do at this stage is accept the assurances that we have been given,” Mr Varadkar said.
He expressed optimism that the talks in Belfast to restart the power-sharing executive could reach a deal by the June 29th deadline set by the British Government.
