Brexit | EU said to press Ireland for no-deal border plan

The European Commission is pushing the Irish government to lay out its plans for the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a person familiar with the matter said.

Ireland has proved elusive when the Commission has attempted to pin down the government on its plan, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A Commission spokesman told reporters in Brussels yesterday [Macau time] that a no-deal exit would mean a return of a hard border.

If the U.K. tumbles out of the bloc in March without a deal, then the question that has dogged Brexit talks – how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland – becomes an acute crisis. The Commission intervention could focus minds in Dublin on the potential consequences of sticking by the backstop, a policy which could catapult the U.K. out of the bloc without a deal.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said last year his government would “never” build a border, though appears to have stepped back from that stance after it became clear that could mean a de facto frontier emerged between Ireland and the rest of the bloc. This possibility was raised in a government briefing with opposition leaders on Tuesday, broadcaster RTE said.

The EU has made clear that Ireland would be expected to police the border with the U.K. as it would become the bloc’s external frontier. Yesterday, in an interview with RTE, Irish Agriculture Minister Michael Creed repeatedly ruled out the return of hard border “infrastructure” in all circumstances.

That raises the prospect of a light-touch system of checking goods, while maintaining a common travel area with the U.K. would mean people can continue to move freely across the border.

Varadkar – who has staked his political career on getting Brexit right – said yesterday that no-deal would present a “real dilemma.”

Varadkar already faces another dilemma: Back down on Ireland’s demands to make sure the Brexit deal gets approved by the U.K. Parliament, or risk the possibility of a no-deal scenario that would be almost as damaging to Ireland as it would be to the U.K.

Insiders say that at one point, Varadkar had simply considered the option of refusing to police the border. That’s now been dropped. Last week, Coveney offered a clue to a potential strategy.

The government would have “difficult talks’’ with the EU and U.K. about the border and the single market in a no-deal scenario, he said. That may involve Ireland arguing that the EU has clearly recognized in the Brexit process the importance of avoiding a return of a hard border, and using that as a guiding principle.

In response to questions, a Commission spokesperson said “as with all member states, especially after the vote, we are intensifying our no deal preparedness work.” Emma Ross-Thomas, Bloomberg