Leo Varadkar: Brexit compromised Good Friday agreement | News from the world


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The Brexit undermined the agreement on Good Friday that brought peace to Northern Ireland and put a strain on relations between Britain and Ireland, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar .

In an interview with RTÉ on Saturday morning, he said the country was about to enter a difficult period due to the impact that Brexit would have on the economy.

He also said that an agreement on Brexit would give a new impetus to parties in Northern Ireland to reach an agreement aimed at restoring the decentralized government in the region 22 months after the fall of the country. Stormont meeting.

"Brexit has undermined the Good Friday deal and is eroding relations between Britain and Ireland," he told Marian Finucane.

"Anything that distinguishes the communities of Northern Ireland hurts the deal on Good Friday and anything that sets Great Britain apart from Ireland undermines that relationship."

He added that if there was some clarity over the next few weeks or months, there would be "a window of opportunity to revive the assembly".

He then reiterated his promise that there would be no return to a hard border in Ireland, regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, which are currently at the cutting edge of progress.

Varadkar was just hours after the British and Irish governments announced that a stalemate on the Irish border could be reached in the coming weeks, which would pave the way for an agreement on Brexit between the UK and the EU.

Simon Coveney and David Lidington, UK cabinet minister, said Friday night that progress had been made in negotiations to resolve the stalemate and reach an agreement this month.

At the same time, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party Arlene Foster said that an agreement was also in sight after separate meetings in Belfast with Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.

"My God, we have come here many times and I think we are about to conclude an agreement that will work for Northern Ireland, which is what we want," said Foster, which the party threatened to close less power to the government. a month ago, if the agreement on Brexit implied a border in the sea of ​​Ireland.

The hopes of breakthrough rose last week after the European Union (EU) emerged, proposing a new UK-wide customs regime, in addition to a system of protection. or an insurance policy regarding the Irish border.

Under the proposal, the United Kingdom would apply a simple customs regime with the EU, which applied a common external tariff to imports from third countries, as is currently the case.

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