Eu Border

[jamesnan]

Can someone please explain to me why, when Switzerland is surrounded by 5 other countries and has no hard border, it is so necessary to make such a huge deal about the Irish border. Surely what is good for one is good for both.

[ichkeria]

One reason of course is that Switzerland has never been in the EU to start with so itls relationship with it has not had suddenly to become less close. The country is in the single market while not in the customs union

[douglas9401]

Switzerland has deals in place, that's what all the hot air across the channel is supposed to achieve.

Eventually, after everyone gets to show how tough and clever they are.

[bhg481]

I guess Switzerland has an agreement with the EU. It doesn't seem so long ago that there used to be long queues of lorries at the EU/Swiss borders. The same was true of the Czech Republic in the days before they joined the EU.

[ToraToraTora]

Switzerland is basically EU in all but name, they are in the customs union, shengen etc.

[ichkeria]

Then there’s the point that Switzerland is one nation not two, part of which is attached to a larger nation, and whose relationship is underpinned by an international peace treaty

[ichkeria]

Switzerland is not in the customs union (EEA) as stated above but it is in the single market as part of EFTA

[Old_Geezer]

Connected as about an EU border, makes interesting rrading. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46988529

[Metaphysicalus]

The Good Friday agreement which was signed by the UK, Irish Government, and registered with the United Nations is a legally binding agreement and is part of the UK constitution ( uncodified). The Backstop is part of that and deleting that from the Brexit agreement would be judged by most other countries the UK government to be untrustworthy. The Irish border is the beach which surrounds the country. The border some here are referring to is the UK border.

[New Judge]

"The Backstop is part of that ..."

No it isn't. It has nothing to do with the Good Friday agreement.

The "Backstop" is a method by which the EU is compelling the UK (or at least part of it) to remain bound by their Customs Union and is cited as the only way to avoid a hard border in Ireland. There are plenty of ways a hard border can be avoided (in the same way that a hard border is not evident in many ports and airports across the UK which handle the import of goods from outside the EU). These should have been considered and planned between June 2016 and now.

[jim360]

As far as it's possible to gather, most alternatives to the Backstop have already been considered and rejected as unworkable. It will be interesting to see if this changes in the coming weeks.

[New Judge]

I get the impression that they've simply been rejected, Jim. If any consideration had been undertaken it would have been realised that the piffling amount of goods that enter Ireland from the UK pale into insignificance when compared to the volume of goods that enter the UK from outside the EU and for which perfectly workable solutions to prevent intervention exist.

[jim360]

Perhaps it's my misinterpretation, but isn't that just a little too close to saying that "Ireland is too small to bother about" for comfort?

[New Judge]

Not at all, Jim. There is technology in use that copes with many times the volume of goods that cross from North to South in Ireland. These solutions can and should be adapted for the Irish border because there is no way the UK should accede to anything resembling the "backstop". There is no way a hard border will be implemented on Day One (and as you know I would argue that it would never be implemented at all but that doesn't matter). With that in mind either a proper trade deal should be negotiated in the interim (which may need no border checks) and concurrently the technological solutions should be pursued.

Leaving aside the Good Friday implications a hard border will cause Ireland immense difficulties and for them to simply shrug their shoulders and say"It's EU rules, innit" does them no favours. The EU needs to realise that there is more to life than their precious Single Market and Customs Union and occasionally they may have to make concessions for the benefit of their members.