The Irish Times, by contrast, praises the EU Commission's strategy:

“[The] commission - fully supported, it should be stressed, by the entire EU27 - is only forcing London to confront the contradictions of its own position and its failure to level with its own people. It is also seeking to apply some pressure at a time of growing European exasperation with the British government's failure to engage. The backstop is exactly that - it will only come into play if all else fails. By underlining to London how unattractive it looks, Brussels is nudging London closer to the compromises it must swallow if a comprehensive deal is to be agreed.”