The Daily Telegraph - 22.08.2019

icy, but any technology suggested for

deployment in the first instance should

already be in use elsewhere”.

That came as Phil Hogan, the EU

commissioner for agriculture and rural

development, launched a withering at-

tack on Mr Johnson, describing him as

an “unelected” Prime Minister who is

“gambling” with the peace process.

Mr Hogan, who is Irish, also claimed

that a no-deal Brexit would create a

“foul atmosphere” and have “serious

consequences” for the UK’s chances of

striking a future trade deal with the

bloc.

Previously, Leo Varadkar, the Irish

premier, has repeatedly warned that

the return of a hard border in Ireland

could lead to violence reminiscent of

the Troubles-era.

Mr Varadkar took a copy of The Irish

Times to an EU leaders’ dinner last Oc-

tober, with a report about the 1972

bombing of a customs post to illustrate

his concerns.

Lord Trimble said Mr Varadkar was

wrong to link the restoration of check-

points on the Irish border with a return

to the Troubles,

The peer, who was awarded a Nobel

Peace Prize for his work on the Good

Friday Agreement, told The Daily Tele-

graph: “It is quite inappropriate for a

government to be hinting of violence.”

The mainstream IRA were unlikely

to resort to violence if the EU imposed

checkpoints, although there was a risk

that fringe Republican groups could

mount attacks if checks were imposed

to get “publicity for themselves”.

Mr Johnson made clear this week

that the UK would never put up border

checkpoints.

Lord Trimble said: “While you may

get some individuals who proceed to

try and indicate that there might be

violence, there is no likelihood

whatsoever of the mainstream

Republican organisations – the ones

that flowed from the creation of the

Provisional IRA – resorting to vio-

lence.”

He added: “If there is any infrastruc-

ture on the border it will only be as a

result of Brussels telling the Irish gov-

ernment that they have got to do it.”

Lord Caine, a senior adviser in the

Northern Ireland Office for the past dec-

ade until this year, added: “It is highly

irresponsible for people to say ‘if we

leave without a deal this is somehow go-

ing to lead to the security situation that

we had in the Seventies and Eighties.

“It is not. But is there the capacity for

dissidents to exploit people’s anxieties

and concerns? Yes there is.”

He added: “What we should not fall

into the trap of assuming is that every

time there is a dissident incident it is

somehow linked to Brexit. These

people were active well before the

referendum.”

solutions’ to Irish backstop problem

‘Provocation’

by Russia will

slow its return

to G7 table

By Danielle Sheridan

BORIS JOHNSON said Russia’s “provo-

cations” including the use of chemical

weapons in Salisbury would hinder its

reintegration into the G7.

“I am aware of the moves to reinte-

grate Russia into the G7,” Mr Johnson

told a press briefing at the Chancellery

in Berlin.

He added: “I just have to say that

given what happened in Salisbury in

Wiltshire, given the use of chemical

weapons on British soil, given the con-

tinuing instability, civil war, the war in

Ukraine, given Russia’s provocations,

not just in Ukraine but in many other

places, I must say I am very much with

Chancellor Merkel in thinking that the

case has yet to be made out for Russia

to return to the G7.”

While Mr Johnson was foreign sec-

retary in March last year, relations be-

tween Russia and the UK collapsed

after Sergei Skripal and his daughter

Yulia were found in a critical condition

on a park bench in the town of Salis-

bury.

It was determined that the two were

poisoned with a Soviet-designed nerve

agent, known as Novichok, in an attack

blamed on the Russian government.

Despite Russia refusing to accept re-

sponsibility, Mr Johnson led the way in

getting nations around the world to

support him in expelling Russian dip-

lomats from their countries, something

he regularly cited during his Tory lead-

ership bid.

After it was revealed in September

by this newspaper that one of the

trained assassins wanted for the poi-

soning was a decorated colonel in Rus-

sian military intelligence, Mr Johnson

lambasted the outcome and said it was

“utterly predictable news that GRU

was behind the Skripal atrocity”.

“What have you got to say, Putin?

And I hope we hear real condemnation

from Corbyn,” he said.

Speaking last night by Mr Johnson’s

side, Ms Merkel added: “As the situa-

tion is today, I would say there is not

yet sufficient progress for saying the

reasons we had in 2014 are obsolete.”

The EU must realise the game has

changed. It is time to compromise

B

oris Johnson has made a strong

opening bid in his negotiations

with the EU. During this process,

several things are strikingly different

from the previous government.

First, there is no requirement to

achieve completely “frictionless

trade”; the EU recognises that this can

only be delivered by the customs

union and single market. The Johnson

administration seeks a new settlement,

more readily understood by the EU: a

comprehensive FTA with the whole of

the UK with Irish border facilitations,

customs facilitations and regulatory

cooperation. Since both parties want

this, it should be relatively easy to

amend the political declaration.

Second, Mr Johnson has made it

clear that the duty of sincere

cooperation will be interpreted more

favourably to the UK, comporting with

international law. Already, Liz Truss

has advanced discussions with a

number of countries, in particular the

US. All of this is consistent with a trade

policy that culminates in FTAs with

many countries, including the EU.

But the EU’s response has been

disappointing; claiming that the PM’s

letter to Donald Tusk “does not set out

what any alternative arrangements

could be”. This could hardly be further

from the truth. The Alternative

Arrangements Commission, whose

technical panel I chair, has proposed

endless ways of delivering customs

checks away from the Irish border

without hard infrastructure ... and

collected them in a 273-page report. If

it is detail the EU wants, they don’t

have to go far to find it.

Perhaps the greatest challenge is

agri-food. The need for sanitary and

phytosanitary measures and

veterinary checks could be solved by

moving facilities away from the border

and using mobile units.

Don’t be fooled by the EU’s feigned

ignorance. Its unbending commitment

to the backstop is a product of political

dogma. Yet sooner or later, an

alternative to a hard border or the

backstop will be needed. Eliminating

the backstop alone is not enough. The

PM must also secure changes to the

political declaration, but these have

been on offer for months.

A free-trade agreement is the

obvious end point for UK/EU

relations. For that to function, Brussels

must do one of three things: build a

hard border in Ireland; cut the Irish off

from the rest of the EU with a customs

border down the English Channel; or

work with us to deliver alternative

arrangements. They will face the same

choice if we leave with no deal on Oct

31. Then, the only way Ireland can
    assure the EU it is protecting the single
    market and customs union will be a
    border between Ireland and the
    EU-26. This, coupled with no deal’s
    impact on the beef industry, could
    devastate its economy.
    With a Prime Minister who wishes
    to prioritise free trade and is unwilling
    to countenance the “vassalage” of the
    backstop, it is time all parties realised
    that the game has changed and
    compromise is required.

Shankar Singham is the Director of the

International Trade and Competition

Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs

Comment

By Shankar Singham

Boris Johnson

stole the

limelight from

Angela Merkel in

Berlin yesterday

by uttering one

of her election

slogans in

German at his

first

international

press

conference.

Standing next

to Mrs Merkel in

the Chancellery,

Mr Johnson said:

“We want a deal

and we expect a

deal and I

think we’re

going to get

one.”

The Prime

Minister then

broke into

halting German

and said: “Wir

schaffen das!”

which means,

“We can manage

it”, a phrase

which became

Mrs Merkel’s

slogan during

the migrant

crisis of 2015.

The German

chancellor then

rolled her eyes,

prompting

about 150 aides

and journalists

to burst out

laughing.

Specifically, the

slogan was for

Mrs Merkel’s

open-door

refugee policy,

when one

million

immigrants

were allowed

across the

border into

Germany,

which split the

country down

the middle.

Sides split Johnson quip steals limelight in Berlin

‘Given what happened in

Salisbury ... the case has yet

to be made out for Russia to

return to the G7’

Russia’s President Putin was challenged by

Boris Johnson over the Salisbury poisoning

Boris Johnson and

Angela Merkel, the

German chancellor,

talk at the

Chancellery in

Berlin yesterday

‘There are

abundant

solutions ...

which have

already been

discussed, I

don’t think to

be fair they

have been

very actively

proposed

over the last

three years’

GETTY IMAGES

Standard

bearers A

security

officer and a

worker

combine to

raise the

Union flag

at the

Chancellery

in Berlin in

preparation

for the

arrival of

Boris

Johnson

and Angela

Merkel

yesterday

The Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 *** 5

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