BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The chances of the Irish border backstop being applied after Brexit are minute, but protecting the EU single market is even more important than the border issue, a Brexit specialist in the European Parliament said on Wednesday.

Elmar Brok, who sits on the European Parliament’s Brexit steering group, told reporters that there was a 99 percent chance that the backstop, a device to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, would never be used.

Brok also said the European Union needed, come what may, to protect its single market.

“The unity of the EU and of the single market are more important than a hard border in Ireland,” he said.