Good Friday agreement must not be damaged by Brexit, says EU parliament coordinator

Wednesday, October 4th 2017 - 08:09 UTC

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European Parliament's Brexit coordinator has said he got a “shock” on his recent visit to Belfast when he saw the city's peace walls. Guy Verhofstadt described Northern Ireland as having a “frozen conflict”, and said the Good Friday Agreement must not be damaged by Brexit. Read full article

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Pete Bog
The UK isn't planning to wreck the Good Friday agreement ,it is the EU trying to put divisions between Ireland and the UK. And the EU is doing its utmost to ensure than agricultural imports from South America will wreck the Irish economy.

Who needs enemies when you have friends like the EU?

Ask the people of Catalonia.

Ask Greece.
Oct 04th, 2017 - 09:45 am - Link - Report abuse +1
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DemonTree
The UK isn't planning to wreck the Good Friday agreement, but we are the ones who want to change the status quo. If (when) the UK leaves the customs union with the EU, what is to stop rampant smuggling over the totally open Irish border?

That's what the UK government can't answer, and what the EU want them to decide. Either the UK stays in the customs union (renders Brexit pointless), or GB leaves but NI stays, with customs checks between GB and NI (unacceptable to Unionists), or they put in border crossings and have customs checks on the Irish border (already ruled out).

Can you think of another option?
Oct 04th, 2017 - 01:22 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
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Islander1
Dear Guy- you are a classic EU irrelevant ignorant old fart. Do leave Irish Affairs to the Irish - those on both sides of the border. The Good Friday Agreement was bugger all and is bugger all to do with the EU.
It is for them (with UK) to decide how to work and maintain an open border - if as a result the inevitable small amount of goods from mainland UK that go into N Ireland, end up into Eire - and some goods from Eire or EU end up across from N.Ireland into mainland UK - amounts will be small - who cares?
If that is the price of maintaining peace and stability across Ireland - well worth it.
Bugger all to do with a little idiot - so bugger off little chap.
Oct 04th, 2017 - 01:29 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
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DemonTree
So your solution is for the EU to put up with smuggling so that the UK can benefit from new trade deals? Why should they?

And if the UK makes a trade deal with, say, the US, do you really think the amount of smuggling to avoid EU tariffs would be small? Over a completely unguarded border? Once the goods are in Ireland you could ship them on to the rest of the EU freely because there are no checks between EU countries, that's a huge market.
Oct 04th, 2017 - 02:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Don Alberto
Chosing Brexit has some implications.

That means to leave both free mobility and the free market, and that implies either to isolate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK or establish customs joint checks on both sides of the border between NI and the Republic of Ireland.
Oct 04th, 2017 - 07:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Islander1
Of course there will be a level of basic checks on lorries etc- a wee bit will get past in private hands, but anything large and deliberate will stick out and get jumped on.
Oct 04th, 2017 - 09:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Don Alberto
@ Islander1

I get the clear impression that you don't know that border.

You can move a caravan of elephants across without being detected.
Oct 05th, 2017 - 12:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Conqueror
@DemonTree

I can think of an option. Have you heard of a technological marvel called drones? Did you know that drones can be “controlled” in two ways? There is, of course, direct control. Then there's autonomous control where the drone flies a predetermined course based on waypoints. Most people have seen pictures that give some idea of what detail can be distinguished. We know that drones can be equipped with infra red cameras. And if there are control officials a couple of miles back from the border? Hasn't the UK talked about using technology? Hasn't it only ruled out infrastructure ON the border? How about cameras sending video feed to automatic numberplate recognition software? Technology opens up a wealth of possibilities. There are two areas of concern at the border. One is commercial smuggling, the other is security. What is the EU's concern? Surely both the UK and the RoI have similar concerns about security? And if it's commercial smuggling, doesn't that depend on where the money is to be made?
Oct 06th, 2017 - 09:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Don Alberto
The border between NI and RI is 500 km (310 miles) long.

It has more than 200 public roads crossing plus an untold number of smaller roads.

2 120 000 lorries, 2 50 000 vans and 22 200 000 cars are crossing each year.

The NI coastline is 540 km (335 miles) long.
Oct 07th, 2017 - 01:10 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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DemonTree
@Conqueror
The EU's concern is commercial smuggling. Can the drone see inside the lorry and tell whether the goods require a customs payment or not? Or whether the amount matches what has been declared?

You could set up cameras on the border and require customs payments to be made in advance, linked to the vehicle registration. But how can you be sure what's in that vehicle without opening it up and looking?

Perhaps a minimally policed border would be possible with technology. But a totally open one?
Oct 07th, 2017 - 11:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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