Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
All they need to do is to re-word the withdrawal agreement on the backstop and let us go. How hard can that be?
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The problem, as I understand it, is threefold..
- The EU have to protect the border of the single market. Poltics aside, if they don't insist on alignment of customs regulations, they run the risk of the border between Northern and Southern Ireland becoming a weakpoint in the border of the Single Market. They cannot afford to allow this. The Brexiteers in charge of the government have, as I understand it, refused to offer regulatory alignment.
- To enforce the security would require customs checks. The systems required to do this without a hard border don't currently exist, and are unlikely to do so for several years.
- The Irish do not want a hard border, as to have one would not only potentially spark off trouble in Northern Ireland, but violate the Good Friday Agreement.
And before you say other countries are not EU members, but don't require hard borders, you'd likely be right (although Switzerland isn't apparently one of them as it does have checkpoints). They also have regulatory alignment, which we have refused.