EU leaders set for November 25 summit if UK Cabinet backs Brexit deal – Taoiseach
An emergency summit of European leaders will likely convene on November 25 to consider the draft Brexit deal if the UK government backs the proposed text, the Taoiseach has said.
Addressing the Dail, Leo Varadkar said the European Council would meet in Brussels to potentially sign off on the 500 page document if Theresa May can secure Cabinet approval in the interim.
“But it is still a draft agreement. It is yet to be agreed by the UK Government and they will discuss it this afternoon and it is yet to be agreed by the European Council and we may be in a position to have an emergency European Council meeting before the end of the month to do exactly that.”
Mr Varadkar fielded questions in the Dail after briefing ministerial colleagues on the draft text in an emergency Cabinet meeting at Government Buildings on Wednesday morning.
He told TDs inside Leinster House: “Should the UK Cabinet be in the position this afternoon to say it’s content with the text, it is proposed that the Commission Taskforce would be in a position perhaps tonight to publish the text with the possibility or probability of an EU council meeting around the 25th of November.”
My reading is the Good Friday Agreement is not negatively impacted by this. In fact it is protected by the draft agreement
Mr Varadkar said he did not want to speak publicly on the fine detail of the draft agreement, stressing that the process was at a very sensitive stage.
“We do have a very important and very sensitive Cabinet meeting that will happen in London starting at 2pm today and I don’t want to say anything here today that might up-end that Cabinet meeting or make things any more difficult than they are already for the Prime Minister,” he said.
He said he was confident the suggested deal would not negatively impact on the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord – an agreement that had a strong emphasis on cross-border co-operation and linkages.
“My reading is the Good Friday Agreement is not negatively impacted by this,” the Taoiseach said.
“In fact it is protected by the draft agreement.”
On the contentious “backstop” proposal – that would guarantee a free flowing Irish border even if a broader UK/EU trade deal failed to materialise – Mr Varadkar insisted it could not have an “expiry date”.
“It is a fall-back, it’s an insurance policy,” he said.
Mr Varadkar added: “The backstop does have to be there. It does have to be legally operable, it can’t have an expiry date and it can’t be possible for any one side to withdraw from it unilaterally.
“But it is important to appreciate that it is our intention that the backstop should never be invoked and that if it is invoked it should only be temporary until such a time that a new agreement is in place to supersede all or part of it.
“But it must apply unless or until that is the case.”
Mr Varadkar said he recognised it was a “difficult time” for the unionist community in Northern Ireland.
“I know that for the unionist community in Northern Ireland at the moment that this quite a difficult time, I know many of them may be feeling vulnerable, many of them may be feeling isolated and many of them may be quite worried about what may be agreed in the coming days,” he said.
“I want to say to them that the Good Friday Agreement will be protected and that includes a recognition that we respect the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom and that we respect the principle of consent that there can be no change of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland unless a majority of people in Northern Ireland say so.
“We’re very happy to have that written into any agreement giving them that legal guarantee.”
Mr Varadkar stressed that the draft agreement would also have to be ratified by Westminster and the European Parliament. The Taoiseach said, while not necessary, it was his view that the text should also be put to a vote in the Irish parliament.
He said the Irish Government planned to brief all the opposition party leaders and their teams on Wednesday evening if his administration was in a position to publish the text.
Mr Varadkar said his government had arranged to have a briefing with Northern Ireland parties on Thursday morning.
Taoiseach and Tánaiste briefing Cabinet ministers on Brexit deal
A special meeting of Cabinet is underway at Government Buildings to discuss the possible Brexit deal.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney arrived separately at the Dublin office and did not speak to waiting media.
It follows a meeting on Tuesday night between Mr Varadkar, Mr Coveney, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet this morning, Minister Donoghue says ministers will be briefed on the draft agreement.
He said: "The key thing for us to happen now is that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste will brief the Cabinet on where we stand and will give everybody in our Cabinet to make an appraisal of where we are, and I'm sure the same will be happening in the UK."
As he arrived, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said he was "looking forward to the meeting" but refused to comment on whether he had seen any of the reported 500-page text.
The Cabinet has remained tight-lipped since news broke on Tuesday that a draft text had been agreed.
A spokesman for the Government said on Tuesday night that "no agreement" had been reached on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and "nothing had been confirmed".
Michel Barnier is briefing EU 27 ambassadors this morning while the Irish cabinet sits to pour over the deal.
It looks as though the British leader might get it past her Ministers, though with some resignations as a result.
The DUP has warned that Theresa May's Brexit deal could lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom.
Opposition leader Micheál Martin said relations between the Republic of Ireland and the North are at their lowest in 20 years due to Brexit.
"No one can doubt that relations between the Government in Dublin and political unionism are at their lowest point in at least 20 years. There has been a return to rhetorical sniping which has had much more impact than various welcome but largely marginal cultural gestures," he said.
Mr Martin blamed both the Conservative Government at Westminster and Fine Gael for changing "the overall dynamic".
"Where the Major, Blair and Brown governments had shown a deep commitment to Northern Ireland's long-term progress, there was an apparent impatience in the Cameron government that they still had to spend time on the issue," he said.
"In fact David Cameron's approach was that Northern Ireland had to 'stand on its own two feet' rather than expect London to help overcome every problem.
"The change of government in Dublin also marked a new approach. Set-piece meetings continued but there was a clear disengagement and an expectation that it was time to just let the DUP and Sinn Fein get on with business."
Speaking at an Irish Association conference at Queen's University Belfast, the Fianna Fáil leader said in terms of the reported Brexit deal: "Let's wait and see the exact text and the legal opinions before we can make an assessment of what is likely to happen. But it remains the bottom line is that Brexit is happening and it has no upside for Ireland."
Varadkar and May hold emergency cabinet meetings to sign off on deal avoiding hard Brexit
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British prime minister Theresa May will today hold crucial emergency cabinet meetings to sign off on an agreed deal to avoid a hard Brexit — and protect Ireland from its fallout.
The most important showdown since the June 2016 Brexit referendum will take place this afternoon after negotiators agreed a make-or-break legal text that will decide the future of the EU, UK and Ireland.
Following several false dawns and months of talks, officials finally agreed the draft Brexit deal text on Monday, with senior Irish government sources saying last night “it’s what we need” and it all now depends “how it lands in London”.
Mrs May subsequently announced the emergency meeting for 2pm today, before meeting her cabinet ministers one by one last night to try and shore up support.
However, despite similar meetings also being planned for the Irish cabinet and EU ambassadors today and with Brexit now just 136 days away, hardline Brexiteers and the DUP have threatened to torpedo the plans, claiming they will turn the UK into an EU “slave state”.
Under the proposed legal text deal — which was reached hours before today’s deadline for organising a crucial November EU summit potentially as soon as Friday week — the UK has been offered a ‘temporary’ UK-wide customs union.
This offer will include a “review mechanism”, in addition to a “deeper” series of customs and regulatory proposals for Northern Ireland to prevent a hard border return.
Officials who cut the deal — which runs to hundreds of pages — hope it will calm DUP fears as the initial customs union will be for the whole of the UK and will win over the majority of the British cabinet as it will include a get-out-clause review.
However, the DUP and hardline Brexiteers still believe the deal will treat the North differently to Britain, and will mean Britain remains the subject of EU customs union laws even after Brexit.
Hardline Brexiteer Conservative MP Jacob Rees Mogg last night said the deal — which he has yet to see — is “a failure of negotiations”, will mean the North “is ruled from Dublin”, and will turn the UK into an EU “slave state”.
Similarly, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson claimed the deal is “vassal state stuff” and urged the UK cabinet to “chuck it out” or resign. The DUP was equally vocal, with MP Sammy Wilson labelling it the “worst” deal yet.
However, British and EU sources last night warned the only alternative is a chaotic no-deal Brexit which will damage everyone.
Mrs May now faces a major battle to win over cabinet support, while she is set to hold discussions with DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose party has yet to receive the legal text wording.
Last night, Mrs Foster said: “We want a sensible deal which works for Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom and our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland.
“But our desire for a deal will not be superseded by a willingness to accept any deal.”
At the same time as the London meeting, EU ambassadors will meet in Brussels, while Mr Varadkar will brief ministers at a special cabinet meeting at 9.30am after demanding a media blackout to prevent antagonising London.
A failure to pass the deal will leave the UK with the choice of quitting the EU without a deal, a second referendum or a general election with Mrs May’s future hanging in the balance.
