Live
Audio Only
"What we are being asked to do here is to compromise on a solution that works, and to replace it with wishful thinking," foreign minister of Ireland said.
Ireland accused British Prime Minister Theresa May of wishful thinking Wednesday for seeking to renegotiate a post-Brexit arrangement for the Irish border in an attempt to get backing for Britain's EU divorce deal in parliament.
RELATED:
EU Lawmakers Want Visa-Free Travel for Britons Post Brexit
Other European Union leaders had quickly dismissed the idea of reopening the deal, saying the Irish "backstop" was not negotiable, shortly after parliament instructed May to do just that in a vote Tuesday.
Less than two months before the United Kingdom is due by law to leave the EU on March 29, investors and allies are trying to gauge where the crisis will end up, with options including a disorderly 'no-deal' Brexit, a delay, or no Brexit at all.
Two weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting the deal May had agreed in Brussels in two years of talks, a 317-310 majority in parliament demanded that she secure a replacement for the backstop, an insurance policy that aims to prevent a hard border being erected between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In essence, she will use the implicit threat of a 'no-deal' Brexit to clinch a deal from the other 27 members of the EU, whose combined economy is about six times the size of Britain's.
The European response has been blunt. Simon Coveney, foreign minister of Ireland, whose economy stands to suffer most from a 'no-deal' Brexit, said Britain had not offered any feasible way to keep the border open.
RELATED:
Boris Johnson Promotes UK 'Freedom Clause' to Avoid Irish Backstop, Secure Support for May
Ireland also has a huge interest in preserving a deal that has maintained sectarian peace in neighboring Northern Ireland for two decades, not least by scrapping all border checks.
"What we are being asked to do here is to compromise on a solution that works, and to replace it with wishful thinking," he said.
Britain voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum. Brexit supporters say it would betray democracy to fail to act on that mandate. Opponents say voters may have changed their minds now that the details are becoming clearer.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who favors a much closer relationship with the EU, built around a customs union, met May to discuss Brexit.
"Jeremy made the case for our alternative plan," the spokesperson said, adding that the tone had been "serious and engaged" and that the two had agreed to meet again.
If May cannot get a deal agreed, the default option would be to exit the EU abruptly with no deal at all, which businesses say would cause chaos and disrupt supply chains for basic goods.
"This will hit Britain harder than others," German Economy Ministry Peter Altmaier said. "The coming days must be used to finally prevent a hard Brexit."
Newsletter
