It was an eventful and, at the same time, uneventful week in Brexitland.
In the UK, the government reached (another) dramatic deadlock over the customs union, while local elections - which many had hoped would be a game changer - have done little to alter the balance of Brexit power.
In Northern Ireland, EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier and Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar restated their determination to agree on a backstop solution for the Irish border by June, despite the fact that Brexit secretary David Davis is looking to October.
And back in Brussels, EU and UK negotiators met again to go over the draft withdrawal treaty and discuss the future relationship, though they didn’t get very far (just as far as cursory talks on the level playing field and future security cooperation).
With only three rounds of talks left until the June summit, the urgency has yet to fully set in.
Both sides are still arguing over position papers the UK published last August, which suggested a “customs partnership”, where the UK would essentially collect EU customs duties on goods bound for the bloc, or a “maximum facilitation” (‘maxfac’) option, where cameras and tracking technology would be used in place of border checks.
British prime minister Theresa May, who favours the customs partnership option, is arguing with a powerful group of backbench MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg (and Brexiteers in her own cabinet, including Mr Davis), who feel the idea will be a burden on British companies and take too long to implement. They say the ‘maxfac’ option would solve the Irish problem and be easier to set up.
But for EU and Irish officials, it’s a false dilemma. They dismiss both options, as they stand: the customs partnership, because it’s unworkable in its current form, and the ‘maxfac’ option because it, by definition, creates infrastructure at the border.
Underlying the EU’s opposition to both solutions is the fact that it would be forced to either outsource or waive its customs and single market rules. While the bloc is willing to compromise in some areas (for instance, agriculture and energy) to keep the peace in Northern Ireland, it is not willing to allow a back door into the bloc’s single market via the island.
“Some people think that we could have two different sets of rules on the island of Ireland and still avoid border checks,” Michel Barnier said in Ireland this week: “Goods that enter Ireland also enter the Single Market. […] Goods entering Northern Ireland must comply with the rules of the Single Market and the Union Customs Code. That is our logic. Simple as that.”
However, the EU’s dismissal of the UK’s thinking is not absolute.
Yes, the bloc still considers the two options “magical thinking”, but senior officials are concerned that taking any solution off the table at this point - as Mr Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group seems to be forcing Prime Minister May to do - is dangerous.
Mr Barnier underlined this in a speech in Ireland this week. “We are ready to look constructively at all options which allow us to meet our objectives - all options,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UK press is reporting that neither of the customs options would be up and running by January 2021, when the transition period is slated to end.
“We are, once again, at a difficult point in the negotiations,” Mr Varadkar said this week. “And we will be at a decisive point again in a few weeks' time.” (Sarah Collins)