Leaders agree vision for future trade deal but say UK must provide solution for Ireland

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Theresa May has been warned that she has less than three months to resolve the problem of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland as EU leaders formally endorsed the terms of the transition period and its vision of a future trade deal.



Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said he hoped agreement struck between negotiators on 75% of a draft withdrawal agreement would propel the talks, before setting a June summit of leaders as a potential make or break moment.

The EU would not be prepared to turn to drafting a political declaration that will form the basis of a future trade deal until the UK provides legally watertight answers to the question of the Irish border, the former Polish prime minister suggested.

Tusk told reporters at a press conference at the end of a European council summit: “We want to use the positive momentum in the negotiations to finally settle outstanding issues such as the solution to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“In parallel, we will start our first talks about the future EU-UK relationship. Leaders will assess in June if the Irish question has been resolved, and how to go about a common declaration on our future.”

Downing Street has rejected the detail in the European commission’s so-called “backstop” solution of effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the customs union and single market should a free trade deal or bespoke technological solution not be able to offer the same outcome.

May has, however, committed to including a version of that default model in any future withdrawal agreement as a price for moving the Brexit talks on.

The leaders of 27 member states endorsed seven pages of guidelines for a future deal with the UK at a summit in Brussels on Friday morning within “30 seconds”, EU diplomats said. It includes zero tariffs on goods, reciprocal access to fishing waters and cooperation in defence and foreign affairs.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the EU had to stay together as the talks entered a more difficult phase. “We should not at all allow ourselves to be split,” she said. “We have to show unity and cohesion in these negotiations.”

Progress on a draft withdrawal agreement unveiled earlier in the week was also welcomed by the 27.

The 129-page document contains both the terms of the transition period and Brussels’ proposed solution to the issue of the Irish border.

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, claimed the UK had made a significant move in the past week by accepting the premise of a backstop option.

It had initially rejected it “out of hand”, he said, but had now said it would “engage on the text of the backstop that the EU has put forward”.

Varadkar added: “It’s not a case of when they’re winning we’re losing, and when we’re winning they’re losing.”

As she left the leaders’ summit in Brussels, May echoed Tusk’s claim that there was a “new dynamic” to the negotiations.

She said: “I welcome the fact that the EU council has agreed the details of the implementation period,” she said. “We will now be sitting down and determining those workable solutions for Northern Ireland, but also for our future security partnership and economic partnership.”

Negotiators on both sides believe a trade deal can be drawn up during the 21-month transition period that will come into force after 29 March 2019.

However, Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian MEP who co-leads the Green group, voiced scepticism shared by some European diplomats in private. “Who can believe that within 21 months you can complete and then ratify a full association agreement,” he told the Guardian. “That is impossible.”

Lamberts said he expected the EU to make provision in the withdrawal agreement to extend the transition, but “they want to extract a price for that concession”.