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1/ A common conception in the UK that fundamentally misunderstands both what the backstop is and what the EU's priorities are on Brexit. In truth, the backstop gives the EU almost nothing of what it wants from a future relationship with the UK.
2/ Firstly, the backstop only covers goods. Separating goods and services could open up a bit of a Pandora's Box for the Single Market. The EU's more service based economies are worried if it applied for any length of time this could be exploited by UK for competitive advantage.
3/ Secondly, it gives the whole UK access to the Customs Union without any agreement on fishing access to British waters for EU vessels. Quite a few countries - notably Belgium, France and Denmark - are hopping mad about this. They only get their access with a proper trade deal.
4/ Thirdly, if the backstop were to ever apply for more than a few months it'd be because future partnership talks had broken down. That'd likely mean no structured cooperation on other stuff that really matters to the EU - especially defence, security and foreign policy.
5/ Along the same lines, using the backstop for any length of time would totally poison relations between the EU and what it itself considers to be its most important partner going forward, the UK. Does anybody in Britain seriously think the EU wants that?
6/ And finally backstop would probably screw up EU's attempts to do trade deals with 3rd countries. Any capital negotiating with Brussels is going to want to know how long it's getting UK for & under what terms. That's already an issue in EU-AUS talks and would only get worse.
7/ Others may be able to think of more ways in which the backstop is pretty bad for the EU. That's why it has been prepared to expend so much political capital on reworking it not once but twice. I'll end again by quoting Mark Rutte: 'Nobody in his right mind wants the backstop.'
