British and Irish Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar met on Monday 9 September in Dublin, while the British Parliament was scheduled on Monday evening to begin the suspension period ordered by the British leader and scheduled to last until 14 October.
In Dublin, the man who, on the evening of 9 September, was also facing a new House of Commons vote on early elections in the country in mid-October, likely to be rejected by MPs, was still confident that an agreement could be reached “by 18 October” (the date of the European Summit). In any event, an exit without an agreement would be a “failure” for which both the British and Irish governments would be responsible, warned Boris Johnson.
While technical discussions on the Irish safety net issue are taking place in Brussels, the British leader, together with the Taoiseach, acknowledged the complexity of the subject of the Irish border and the “symbolism and sensitivities evoked by the very concept of a border”. Mr Johnson insisted that with energy and a “spirit of compromise”, solutions could be found to the problem of the safety net for Ireland, which he rejects.
Leo Varadkar, for his part, pointed out that an absence of a ‘backstop’ in the withdrawal agreement would be equivalent to an exit without an agreement. “In the absence of agreed alternative arrangements, no backstop is no deal for us”, Mr Varadkar said ahead of the working meeting. However, the Irishman expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached with the British leader. Indeed, a joint statement by the two men at the end of the meeting indicated that the discussion was “positive” and constructive and helped to establish “common ground” on certain aspects, although “significant gaps remain”.
“The UK and Ireland are committed to securing an agreement between the European Union and the UK, and recognise that negotiations take place through the Brussels Task Force”. The two leaders also stressed that they have renewed their “commitment to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the restoration of the power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland”.
Earlier, on the issue of the safety net, the Irishman said he was “open to alternatives [that are] legally binding and workable. We have received no such proposals to date”. “The Good Friday agreement is proof that old foes can come together to deal with the most intractable of problems”, he said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)