'Very unhelpful': Ireland scolds British PM Johnson over Brexit

[rooster59]

'Very unhelpful': Ireland scolds British PM Johnson over Brexit

By Ian Graham

 

FILE PHOTO: Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney speaks during a press conference in London, May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

 

BELFAST (Reuters) - Ireland said on Friday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit was "very unhelpful" and that the new British leader appeared set on a collision course with the European Union that would preclude an orderly exit with a deal.

 

Such biting criticism from Ireland, just two days since Johnson took office with a pledge to strike a new divorce deal with the EU, indicates the perils of the Brexit gambit chosen by Britain's new government.

 

On entering Downing Street on Wednesday, Johnson cautioned that if the EU refused to negotiate then he would take Britain out on Oct. 31 without a deal, a step that would send shock waves through the world economy.

 

In an indication of business concerns about a disorderly exit from the EU, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said a no-deal Brexit was an existential threat to the British car industry and would risk output.

 

Johnson spiced his pitch to the EU on Thursday by bluntly stating that one of the most hotly contested elements of the Brexit divorce agreement - the Irish border backstop - would have to be struck out if there was to be an orderly exit.

 

Ireland's second most powerful politician, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, said Johnson's comments were "very unhelpful" and warned that the new British leader was not going to get a deal with such an approach.

 

"He seems to have made a deliberate decision to set Britain on a collision course with the European Union and with Ireland in relation to the Brexit negotiations," Coveney told reporters in Belfast after meeting Julian Smith, Britain's Northern Ireland minister.

 

Smith later said he did not think a collision was looming.

 

"We need to find solutions particularly for the issue of the border, but the prime minister was very, very clear to his cabinet yesterday that he wants to get a deal done," he said.

 

Further illustrating the delicate issues at stake, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a British EU exit without a deal would raise the question of planning for a possible future unification of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

 

'KEEP CALM, BE FAIR'

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a telephone conversation with Johnson on Friday and he has accepted her invitation to visit Berlin. "He said the only solution that would allow us to make progress on a deal is to abolish the backstop," a spokesman for Johnson said of the call.

 

The stance from Berlin was frank.

 

"My message to the new British prime minister is clear: 'Boris, the election campaign is over. Calm yourself down. We should be fair with each other'," Germany's Europe Minister, Michael Roth, told ZDF television.

 

"What do not help are new provocations. Instead, dialogue - one must be able to expect that from the leader of a friendly nation, one that is still a member of the European Union."

 

Ireland is crucial to any Brexit solution.

 

Though Ireland is only about an eighth of the size of the United Kingdom's $2.8 trillion economy, Dublin is backed by the rest of the European Union whose economy - minus the United Kingdom - is worth $15.9 trillion.

 

While Ireland would be very badly affected by a no-deal Brexit, the relative importance of Ireland in the negotiations up-ends almost a thousand years of history in which Dublin has traditionally had a much weaker hand than London.

 

And the 500 km (300 mile) land border between Ireland and Britain's province of Northern Ireland has always been the biggest stumbling block for an orderly Brexit.

 

Johnson told the British parliament on Thursday he wanted to abolish the backstop, an insurance policy designed to prevent the return of border controls ended by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

 

The Withdrawal Agreement that former Prime Minister Theresa May struck in November with the EU says the United Kingdom will remain in a customs union "unless and until" alternative arrangements are found to avoid a hard border.

 

But many British lawmakers oppose the prospect of being bound to EU rules and customs duties that would prevent Britain doing its own trade deals and leave it overseen by EU judges.

 

The EU says it will not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement or the backstop protocol within it, but could rework the Political Declaration setting out post-Brexit trade terms that may offer a clearer way of avoiding the backstop.

 

"The approach that the British prime minister seems to now be taking is not going to be the basis of an agreement, and that's worrying for everybody," Coveney said.

 

(Additional reporting by David Milliken, Alistair Smout, Costas Pitas and William James in London; Paul Carrel, Tassilo Hummel and Riham Alkousaa in Berlin; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-27

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[smedly]

27 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Ireland said on Friday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit was "very unhelpful"

May is gone get over it

 

stop the nonsense and get to sorting out solutions 

 

stupid people

[fishtank]

Sound bites and rhetoric from the clown in Downing St. with no plan on how to deliver his promises.

Maybe he should consult Larry the cat.

[Somtamnication]

The EU is a circus, so clowns are everywhere!

[NanLaew]

Snap election.

 

Increased majority.

 

The DUP can then kiss Boris's ass.

 

And this alleged "Ireland's second most powerful politician" can sink further back into anonymity.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Ireland's second most powerful politician, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, said Johnson's comments were "very unhelpful" and warned that the new British leader was not going to get a deal with such an approach.

 

"He seems to have made a deliberate decision to set Britain on a collision course with the European Union and with Ireland in relation to the Brexit negotiations," Coveney told reporters in Belfast after meeting Julian Smith, Britain's Northern Ireland minister.

 

Smith later said he did not think a collision was looming.

Then smith has accepted the fact that a backstop is going to form part of any deal. 

 

Good man. 

[elliss]

 

United Ireland , North and South . 

   EU or UK . their choice , in a fair vote..

 

 

 

[Laughing Gravy]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Sound bites and rhetoric from the clown in Downing St. with no plan on how to deliver his promises.

Maybe he should consult Larry the cat.

Or maybe the old poster spidey!

[transam]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Sound bites and rhetoric from the clown in Downing St. with no plan on how to deliver his promises.

Maybe he should consult Larry the cat.

You have insider info then, tell all..?

[sammieuk1]

Wake me up on Halloween its going to be the longest 3 months in history then on the 1st of November we will all be rich or all blow up by the 5th???? 

[transam]

8 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Wake me up on Halloween its going to be the longest 3 months in history then on the 1st of November we will all be rich or all blow up by the 5th???? 

But either way hopefully reduce this trash influx....

 

 

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/robber-attacked-girl-12-deported-084906062.html

[Sticky Wicket]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

May is gone get over it

 

stop the nonsense and get to sorting out solutions 

 

stupid people

If the Irish carry on like they are doing the UK will hammer them when Brexit eventuates. 

[Basil B]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Snap election.

 

Increased majority.

 

The DUP can then kiss Boris's ass.

 

And this alleged "Ireland's second most powerful politician" can sink further back into anonymity.

Let's see if Brexiteers will still be calling for a early GE on Friday... ????

 

The Brecon and Radnorshire by-election will prove that the Tory Party will be decimated should they call a GE, the wheels are falling off the Brexit Party bandwagon and Labour is a lost cause.

 

A new Party Leader will be celebrating Friday but it will not be Boris...

[geoffbezoz]

2 minutes ago, Sticky Wicket said:

If the Irish carry on like they are doing the UK will hammer them when Brexit eventuates. 

Already done it. They bowled them out for 38 so beat them by 143 runs at Lords yesterday ????

[Geoffggi]

It was bound to happen, the EU is pouting because someone is standing up to them instead of rolling over, the EU must also be wary as other countries are starting to want to negotiate trade terms.

[Basil B]

13 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Already done it. They bowled them out for 38 so beat them by 143 runs at Lords yesterday ????

But Ireland were hung over after celebrating the first innings... 

[mercman24]

all we hear about is the negativity from the Remainers about what the UK will lose, well i think those European countries need to take a sharp look at themselves about what they are going to lose, they are being kept in the dark by the Eurocrats, they are about to get a huge wake up call, especially THEIR car industry, and of course losing 16% income. that we give away to all the hangers on countries. if Treason May had done her job, then we would be well down that road by now, other countries that had thoughts on leaving will see how much disruption this idiot has caused and will now think twice about leaving, as they are not as strong as the uk, one person to blame for this chaos,

[geoffbezoz]

7 minutes ago, Basil B said:

But Ireland were hung over after celebrating the first innings... 

It was an English ploy knowing they would get drunk celebrating ???? Bit like Boris suggesting he will pull out of the EU with a no deal but all along plotting to call a general election late October.

[GroveHillWanderer]

1 hour ago, elliss said:

 

United Ireland , North and South . 

   EU or UK . their choice , in a fair vote..

 

Fair enough. Of course you do realise that as it stands, the majority of the population in both Eire AND Northern Ireland, prefer a united Ireland to a no-deal Brexit, don't you?

 

Northern Ireland voters will back united Ireland

[ballpoint]

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, fishtank said:

Sound bites and rhetoric from the clown in Downing St. with no plan on how to deliver his promises.

Maybe he should consult Larry the cat.

No Plan, there’s a surprise.

[Laughing Gravy]

26 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Fair enough. Of course you do realise that as it stands, the majority of the population in both Eire AND Northern Ireland, prefer a united Ireland to a no-deal Brexit, don't you?

 

Northern Ireland voters will back united Ireland

I would not only disagree with your statement but a poll of 1199 people is extremely weak statistically. You could poll the Shankill and Falls road and get two totally different results. Eire and Northern Ireland will not be united, in my lifetime, IMHO.

[wreckingcountry]

another remainer who believes should not leave EU due to some made up fake excuse


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[wreckingcountry]

Fair enough. Of course you do realise that as it stands, the majority of the population in both Eire AND Northern Ireland, prefer a united Ireland to a no-deal Brexit, don't you?
 
Northern Ireland voters will back united Ireland

Absolute nonsense ! Go back to sleep and dream


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[vogie]

17 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

Are you saying that we should take the views of terrorists over the majority of voters that voted to leave the EU, I don't think democracy works like that.

[metisdead]

A post containing a derogatory word for Irish people has been removed. 

[Billy The Kid]

A general election or a 2nd referendum looks more likely... Let the people decide . People didn’t understand the first referendum, many didn’t turned up to vote . 

[transam]

32 minutes ago, Billy The Kid said:

A general election or a 2nd referendum looks more likely... Let the people decide . People didn’t understand the first referendum, many didn’t turned up to vote . 

They may well not understand a second referendum....????

[GroveHillWanderer]

38 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

I would not only disagree with your statement but a poll of 1199 people is extremely weak statistically. You could poll the Shankill and Falls road and get two totally different results. Eire and Northern Ireland will not be united, in my lifetime, IMHO.

That was just the first poll I came across when doing a Google search. There have been several others giving the same results. For instance a Lucid Talk poll of 1,334 people in December 2018 also showed a majority in favour of a united Ireland if the alternative is a 'no deal' Brexit. Also, If you think a poll of 1,199 or 1,334 people is not a big enough sample to give statistically accurate results, then I'm afraid you don't know much about opinion poll methodology.

 

Even a sample size of 550 people (properly selected) will give you an accurate result 19 times out of 20. With numbers of 1,000 or more the margin of error is even smaller. As the YouGov site states;

 

Quote

Random error on a sample of 1,000 is up to 3%, on 1,500 up to 2.5% and on 2,000 up to 2%. 

 

YouGov - poll methodology

 

Take a look at any opinion poll you like, I think you'll find that the sample size is usually between 1,000 and 2,000.

 

In fact, in the US even with its much larger population, the average poll size is just 1,000, according to the US National Council on Public Polls. Again, they quote a margin of error of just 3% for such a sample size.

 

NCPP site

 

[Bundooman]

So let me get this straight. Any new approach by any British government is to be considered as 'provocative'?

 

This statement from Germany clearly highlights the fact that the EU knows it put May in a corner with a deal that benefits Europe only.

Intransigent and too powerful by far. Good luck Johnson - knock the arrogance out of this failing giant.

 

Greece will be next. When Merkel goes next year, Germany will have its hands full of malcontent from those who appose her policies and following very closely behind that will be Macron's departure - overwhelmed by support for Marina le Pen!