There is a "real risk" that the EU and UK will fail to agree a deal on Brexit without a solution to avoid a hard border in Ireland, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned.
Speaking on a visit to the Border area, the senior EU Commission official said Brussels was preparing for all options, including the possibility that it cannot reach a deal with London on the UK's departure in March 2019.
Negotiations have become bogged down over how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. The prospect of a no-deal Brexit raises costly scenarios, and would trigger the Government’s worst-case contingency planning.
Speaking at an event in Dundalk, Co Louth, Mr Barnier and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar heaped further pressure on Britain to suggest other detailed solutions to advance talks by the next summit of EU leaders in June.
"There is a real risk; we have to be prepared for all options including no deal," Mr Barnier told the All-Island Civic Forum on Brexit, a gathering of civic and business groups, at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Mr Barnier called for rapid agreement to be reached with the UK by June on “several new points” around the scope of post-Brexit alignment on regulations and safety controls between the EU and UK.
He said the June summit was a “stepping stone” to October’s deadline for an overall agreement on Brexit, and called for substantial progress in the run-up to the June meeting on avoiding a hard border.
‘Land grab’
Mr Varadkar and Mr Barnier both denied that the EU was attempting "a land grab" for Northern Ireland under the terms of the so-called backstop option – the only one currently on the negotiating table – that would effectively keep the North under EU economic rules if no alternative solution is found.
Both dismissed criticism from the DUP as their trips included stops north of the Border. Asked about remarks by DUP leader Arlene Foster that he was "aggressive" in negotiations and "not an honest broker", Mr Barnier said he was not ready to engage in "polemics".
“There is no spirit of revenge, there is no spirit of punishment,” he said.
Mr Varadkar dismissed claims by DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson that his visit to a school in Co Armagh and a port in Co Down after his appearance at the forum was "outside of normal protocol" or showed "poor manners".
The Taoiseach said he informed the Northern Ireland Office about his trip across the Border. “I can assure anyone that I am not an invader; I just want to be a good neighbour,” he said.
