The EU has published its plan to effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market and customs union after Brexit, in a 120-page draft withdrawal agreement.
The territory of Northern Ireland would be considered part of the EU’s customs territory after Brexit, with checks required on goods coming in from the rest of the UK, under the text produced by the European commission.
A raft of single market legislation will also apply to ensure the province stays in lockstep with laws of the Republic of Ireland that are relevant to the north-south flow of trade.
“A common regulatory area comprising the Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland is hereby established,” the draft says. “The common regulatory area shall constitute an area without internal borders in which the free movement of goods is ensured and North-South cooperation protect.”
Downing Street insisted overnight that the prime minister would not sign up to “anything that threatens the constitutional integrity of the UK” amid claims that the EU is seeking to annex Northern Ireland.
But the Republic and the EU do not regard the plan as interference in the UK’s domestic affairs of the UK. They see it as merely the honouring of an agreement already struck with Downing Street in December.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the publication of the draft text was a “key moment” in the process.
At a press conference in Brussels he said it was “a very important moment for the negotiations — I’m tempted to say a key moment in this very lengthy and complex process for these extraordinary negotiations which we wish to make a success of”. But signalling frustration at the lack of progress in the negotiations he told reporters: “We must pick up the pace.”
The EU document, which has 168 clauses, two protocols and an annex, puts into legal terms the commitments made in a joint report between the UK and the commission last December under which three options for avoiding a hard border were proposed.
The draft paper leaves open the possibility that a future free-trade deal or some bespoke technological solutions could make the plan for full regulatory alignment null and void. But it focuses on “operationalising” the final, and most controversial option, of keeping Northern Ireland under EU law.
The commission has said that this is currently the only viable option.