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Alberto Nardelli
@AlbertoNardelli
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
EU/27 have always been open to workable alternatives to the backstop as currently designed (eg Northern Ireland only mechanism is always on the table)

Key issue is not - never has been - a lack of openness but of workable alternatives that achieve same effect as current backstop
It is not the backstop as currently designed that is sacrosanct (again, Northern Ireland only option workable), but its purpose is sacrosanct: an insurance mechanism that avoids a hard border and protects the integrity of the single market in all scenarios & circumstances
This current dance is mostly about firmly placing the onus on Johnson/UK to come up with an alternative, and more importantly - given that alternatives are unlikely - of taking ownership and responsibility for upcoming decisions, and the consequences of these
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More from @AlbertoNardelli see all

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Alberto Nardelli
@AlbertoNardelli
NEW: This Is What The EU Thinks Of Boris Johnson’s Brexit Proposals buzzfeed.com/albertonardell…
EU27 diplomats were briefed yesterday on the UK's Brexit proposals, and on the latest state of talks following a meeting between Barclay and Barnier - these are the main points:
The SPS document is "not detailed." It is a one-pager with an annex listing two sets of legislation, of EU rules that would apply to Northern Ireland after Brexit and a second list outlines EU legislation that wouldn’t apply, requiring checks to take place away from the border
Read 10 tweets
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Alberto Nardelli
@AlbertoNardelli
Hate to be that guy, but there is nothing in the Juncker interview that indicates a change in position or anything the EU and 27 haven't been repeating ad nauseam for the past two years
The thing with the backstop isn't the name "backstop", it's the purpose and effects of the insurance mechanism. Juncker is clear that any alternative has to meet the same objectives – "all of them"
Juncker also repeats the point that the withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated, and that finding the numbers in Westminster is a domestic UK political matter. All points the EU and the 27 have made multiple times over the past 2+ years
Read 3 tweets
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Alberto Nardelli
@AlbertoNardelli
Brexit status update. A short thread:

- UK has not put forward any concrete proposal/text. A fundamental point that needs repeating when you read X could be a solution or Y could replace a backstop.

We have a saying in Italy: my grandmother would be a bicycle if she had wheels.
- Substance of EU27 position has not — and will most probably not — change. A backstop that keeps the border open, protects all-island economy and ensures integrity of the single market is needed. Even more so now that Ireland has indicated that it prefers no deal to no backstop
- UK position seems to have shifted a bit on Northern Ireland. But — and this is key — there is a long long way to go, no detail, and UK would need to go all the way. Even if you call it something else instead of backstop, say chocolate, the mechanism needs to achieve same effect
Read 10 tweets

Related threads

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Dave Keating
@DaveKeating
Breaking: UK asking EU to delay decision on #backstop until end of transition period in Dec 2020 - but still grant UK a deal for leaving EU on 31 October.

It's an absolute non-starter in Brussels. "It's like they haven't been listening for the last year" grumbles one EU official
The EU is insisting the UK give a concrete proposal for replacing the #backstop in next 12 days

In response, #Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said the UK wants the EU to agree to put off a decision on the backstop until Dec 2020 and give the UK a deal by 31 Oct in the mean time
Barclay also said in his speech in Madrid on Thursday that the UK cannot meet the deadline for coming up with a backstop alternative.

Confusingly, this is the opposite of what Boris Johnson has been insisting - that it is completely possible to find an alternative by October.
Read 5 tweets
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David Phinnemore
@DPhinnemore
Is the #Brexit #backstop anti-democratic?

A persistent argument against it is the claim that it makes Northern Ireland a voiceless "rule-taker".

Here's a mega-thread based on research with @hayward_katy taking a closer look at this issue.

1/25
Boris Johnson insists on calling the backstop ‘anti-democratic’ noting that there is no ‘sovereign’ means of exiting it and it applies to ‘large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland’ over which the people of NI have ‘no influence’

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

2/25
The DUP take a similar line.

Nigel Dodds has claimed that the backstop ‘would see laws made in Brussels impacting the economy of Northern Ireland with no-one in London or Belfast able to vote on them or even ask a question about them.

mydup.com/news/article/c…

3/25
Read 25 tweets
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Katy Hayward
@hayward_katy
PM Johnson has made the removal of the #backstop the make-or-break matter when it comes to an exit deal with the EU.

So this thing is pretty damn important.

Time for a quick recap of what the 'loathed and detested' backstop actually is?

1/14
The #backstop is there specifically to meet the UK’s commitments to avoid a hard Irish border & protect the 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement & peace process.

This isn’t just of benefit or interest to the island of Ireland.
A broken Northern Ireland means a limping UK.
2/14
How does the #backstop work?
A v.brief explanation:

Having to apply & enforce customs procedures & rules around market access makes a border ‘hard’.
(just talking trade here)

Put simply, the greater the hassle in getting goods across a border, the harder that border is.

3/14
Read 14 tweets
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Murphy de Pfeffel Murphy
@LiamTheBrewer
Thread.
#ireland #brexi

Having spent an hour tring to explain what's happening here to a #Brexit person in #England I'm now convinced that we are in serious trouble /1

#ireland #gfa
I don't believe that most people who voted leave have any malign intent towards us. I'm not a fan of the EU myself. Still less do I think its an England/Ireland thing, I was born in England, I was schooled there & my partner is English /2
But there is a yawning gap of comprehension about the troubles & what it took to stop it. /3
Read 25 tweets
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Telegraph Politics
@TelePolitics
Jeremy Hunt says the Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn is the 'biggest threat facing British politics'
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/…
Jeremy Hunt: 'I do recognise that we are never going to have a deal to leave the EU with a backstop. It has to change or has to go'

Follow LIVE updates: telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/…
Jeremy Hunt says the #backstop 'traps us into following EU customs tariffs'
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/…
Read 8 tweets
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Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
Tonight at 2200 on @skynews i’ve been in the port of Larne, Northern Ireland with Daisy the cow, who could save the Brexit Deal or imperil the Union, depending on your view...#backstop #borderforcows
in the Northern Ireland port town of Larne, one of the places where Irish Sea checks would be required under EU Ireland Brexit backstop proposal, currently being negotiated in Brussels..
and one of the places where checks actually already happen on animal trade between Sco & NI
Barnier mentioned these existing “Irish Sea” checks as a precedent yesterday - but would have to be tenfold increase for backstop...DUP source said this was building “an entire edifice” on some foot & mouth checks for cows..MEP Diane Dodds said checks on lasagne as well as cows
Read 6 tweets

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