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Speaking in Brussels @simoncoveney says the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for renegotiation, and he dismissed the call by the Polish foreign minister for a five year limit on the backstop as not reflecting the EU position.
Coveney said: “We have spent 18 months or so in a difficult negotiation that resulted in a Withdrawal Agreement and all of the detail that was part of that. It’s been made very clear repeatedly that the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for renegotiation.”
He said Polish FM Jacek Czaputowicz had made a similar suggestion in Dublin in December, when he was en route from London, but back then Mr Coveney said a backstop with a time limit was not a backstop.
Mr Coveney said: “This was probably an attempt to be helfpful. Poland has more citizens in the UK, even more than Ireland. I don’t think his intervention reflects EU thinking here. In fact I know it doesn’t...
"If you listen to what other EU leaders have been saying, what the presidents of the EU institutions have been saying, and what the chief negotiator has been saying... They’re all saying the same thing. That we can’t reopen the Withdrawal Agreement for renegotiation.”
He said the way to solve the problem was to look at the future relationship declaration. “If the UK is willing to do that then the EU will try to respond in a generous way.”
Mr Coveney also held a bilateral meeting with the British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt. He said he had received assurances that, contrary to newspaper reports, the UK was not seeking to change the Good Friday Agreement.
“My position with Jeremy Hunt was very clear today. He understood my position before today, but he certainly understands it after the meeting, and that is that Ireland remains firmly supportive of the Withdrawal Agreement in full..."
