- Title: Irish PM Varadkar says UK's Brexit proposals are 'welcome' but 'fall short'
- Date: 3rd October 2019
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) IRISH PRIME MINISTER, LEO VARADKAR, AND SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER, STEFAN LOFVEN, WALKING TO PODIUMS AND STARTING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRISH PRIME MINISTER, LEO VARADKAR, SAYING: "The proposals that have been put forward by the UK are certainly welcome in the sense that we now have written proposals that we can engage on, but they do fall short in a number of aspects, certainly our views that any consent mechanism that were to exist would have to be reflective of the views of the whole of the population of Northern Ireland and not give any one party of any denomination a veto, and also we need to explore in much more detail the customs proposals being put forward, as it's very much the view of the Irish government and people of Ireland, north and south, that there shouldn't be customs checkpoints or tariffs on trade between north and south." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER, STEFAN LOFVEN, SAYING: "In the long perspective we of course share a common interest of a good and deep relationship between the European Union and the UK as well as bilaterally, and in the short term we need an orderly Brexit, and this means that we must find a solution that can balance on the one hand protecting the single market, on the other hand being very firm on avoiding a hard border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland." (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRISH PRIME MINISTER, LEO VARADKAR, SAYING: "Well first of all I'm reassured by what Mr. Johnson said today, that he's not proposing that there should be any new physical infrastructure on the island of Ireland linked to customs or customs checks, but as you pointed out Tony (journalist who asked question), that is actually in contradiction to the papers presented by the UK government yesterday. So I think working with the EU task force in particular, with Barnier's task force, and also talking to the UK government, we'll have to tease out the detail of what those proposals mean. But our objective is very clear, we don't want to see any customs posts between north and south, nor do we want to see any tariffs or restrictions on trade north and south." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 17th October 2019 14:04
- Keywords: Leo Varadkar Ireland's Prime Minister Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZJJXON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday (October 3) said that Britain's latest Brexit proposals were "welcome" but "fall short".
"They do fall short in a number of aspects, certainly our views that any consent mechanism that were to exist would have to be reflective of the views of the whole of the population of Northern Ireland and not give any one party of any denomination a veto," he told reporters after meeting his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven in Stockholm.
He added that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's assurance that he was not proposing any new physical infrastructure related to customs checks on the island of Ireland were "in contradiction" with papers issued on Wednesday (October 2). Johnson's final Brexit offer to the European Union include an alternative to the so-called Irish backstop which has been a major sticking point to a deal.
Lofven said that they would have to be "very firm in avoiding a hard border" between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.
(Production: Bjorn Lockstrom, Ilze Filks, Helena Williams) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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