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BELFAST (Reuters) – The head of the North Irish party that backs the government of British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday that she would not prefer a Brexit deal to a bad deal, describing current plans tantamount to "The annexation of Northern Ireland" by the government. EU.
PHOTO FILE: Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, holds a press conference at the European Parliament following a meeting with the EU negotiator for the Brexit, Michel Barnier, in Brussels on October 9, 2018. REUTERS / Yves Herman
British negotiators and the European Union have accelerated this month the claim for an agreement on Brexit, but discussions on the issue of the border between Northern Ireland, which is part the United Kingdom, and the Irish Republic, an EU Member State, are still pending.
In the absence of a comprehensive trade partnership between the EU and the UK after Brexit, the EU is seeking to put in place a "support" mechanism under which the Northern Ireland would in fact remain subject to the regulation of this block in order to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
But the DUP, whose support in May is to be adopted by the British Parliament, strongly opposes any proposal that the province would be treated differently from the rest of the UK.
"I fully appreciate the risks of a" no deal "(Brexit), but the dangers of a bad deal are even worse," Foster said in an article in the Belfast Telegraph released on Saturday. .
"This security arrangement would not be temporary. That would be the permanent annexation of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and would leave us always subject to the established rules in a place where we have nothing to say, "she said. added.
Great Britain wants any backstop arrangement to be limited in time. Unconditional Brexit supporters in the ruling Conservative party in May fear that it could be used to keep the UK whole in a customs union indefinitely with the EU.
The EU is opposed to any specific deadline.
"NO GAME"
Foster said his party, which has 10 MPs in the UK parliament, did not bluff in his tough stance during the talks.
"It's not a game. Anyone who engages in a lighthearted attitude fails to understand the seriousness of the decisions we will make in the coming weeks," Foster said.
"The next days, weeks and months will be critical. The decisions made will shape the type of Northern Ireland our grandchildren will live in. "
Foster said she wanted an agreement that would work for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and that she would travel to Dublin for talks on Monday.
In an article in another newspaper in Northern Ireland, the Belfast News Letter, former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, also set the background, describing May's decision to accept such a decision. support as a "terrible mistake".
"The only way to get things back on track is to drop the safety net …," Johnson wrote.
Reportage by Amanda Ferguson; Written by Conor Humphries; Edited by Gareth Jones
