Backstop Belligerence — Enough To Bring Down Brexit?
By: Maurizio Bragagni
Tags: Trade, Ireland, European Union, Brexit

They say a week is a long time in politics. I think it’s fair to say that this particular week is one that has been as difficult as it was long.

The good news is that many appear to have sprung out of their Brexit apathy and found a renewed appetite for supporting the deal that will change the fabric of some areas of life, and, quite possibly, make no difference to others.

Whatever the outcome, whatever our individual views, we have to pull together, present a united front — deal with it.

It’s impossible to reach agreement when it’s clear, to those on the other side of the negotiating table, that there is insurrection and polarity in the ranks of the opposing team.

As a British citizen of Italian birth, it’s interesting to me that there is a growing wider restiveness within the EU. A rumble at the core that’s causing surface cracks.

More than that, it’s worrying.

Europe was born out of the aftermath of WWII. When countries that had been at war, killing, torturing and imprisoning their aggressors signed up to learn to work and live together — and pledge ‘never again’ to the horrors over their shoulders. The idea was that there would be a United States of Europe — that we would be stronger together.

Now Italy is exploring its own bilateral exit deal as Britain moves closer to the deal or no deal crunch. Having an agreement is a stronger position to be in. Having a deal means we know what we’re working with, we can plan, we can move forward. Uncertainty is the enemy, that and self-interest. Now is the time for bigger-picture thinking.

In Italy activism and insurrection is on the rise. Trade unionists paraded beneath an effigy of Matteo Salvini during a protest against the government’s economic policy.

In the face of public anger the country is drawing up emergency plans to safeguard financial stability and keep trade with the UK flowing even if there is a no-deal Brexit. A bilateral deal between Rome and London is being explored.

The country’s Lega-Five Star coalition is increasingly worried that any mishandling of the EU’s Brexit crisis could push Italy’s economy into a downward spiral.

Italy’s Brexit Task Force has been instructed to work on the future for ports, airports, customs, and the handling of food trade, as well as what’s in store for Italians living in the UK.

Here at home the Irish “backstop” is what is consuming political and media airtime.

It’s viewed by many as the thing that will handcuff the UK to the EU’s customs union and steal Britain’s chance to strike world-wide trade deals for the foreseeable future.

Could it have been avoided? Probably not. Ireland was always going to present a major impediment to the UK’s departure from the EU.

The Backstop is a child of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement — a millennial in fact. It created a virtual border between Northern Ireland and the Republic as part of the Unionist/Nationalist peace settlement.

It was possible because the EU and the UK were in the same trade bloc and so ‘on the same page’ with common external tariffs and rules. So no need for checks on what was — until Brexit — an internal border of the EU.

For some time the issue of border checks along that ‘invisible’ border has been at checkmate.

The backstop is a guarantee that that invisible border in Ireland would remain. The EU’s view? No border, no Withdrawal Agreement.

It’s not tidy, it’s temporary and it’s unloved by many but it is, quite deliberately — built not to be ideal for both sides. It is, in itself, the definition of compromise.

Make it uncomfortable enough and there’s the motivation to find a better solution. There’s still a worry over the definition of the length of time that temporary backstop fix it might be in place. That, I believe, is why the most uncomfortable solution may be the best one.

Source, Italy Brexit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/02/10/italy-explores-bilateral-brexit-deal-britain-economic-crisis/

Source, Irish Backstop:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/brexit-backstop-irish-border-important-deal1/