[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Pierre

The backstop was an EU requirement, it came from this statement from Barnier.



To avoid a hard border there has to be “regulatory alignment” between North. And South. This is the fundamental issue that has to be overcome.

It isn’t politics or ideals, it is paperwork.

The Irish came up with it before the referendum took place.

Enda Kenny, the then taoiseach, ordered the first Brexit impact study in 2014. Officials identified the impact on the economy, diplomatic ties, and crucially the Good Friday agreement and what Brexit would mean for the border.

...
After the shock of the no vote sunk in, Kenny quickly assembled a team of almost 100 people to work on Brexit. He beefed up embassies across EU capitals to convey a stark message: the border was not just about protecting the single market, it was about peace.
...
In October[2016] Kenny agreed with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, that technical talks between officials in Brussels and Dublin would open. They met again in January 2017 and agreed “there was no technical solution” to the border.
They were beginning to realise that only a political solution – specifically, regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the EU – could avert a hard border. This was the genesis of the backstop.