Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte invited Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for talks in The Hague on Wednesday, to discuss the European Union’s response to Brexit ahead before a EU summit in Sibiu.
“What we all want to avoid, even those who are in favour of Brexit, is the re-emergence of a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland,” Varadkar said, laying out three options for the UK, namely remaining in the EU, having a close relationship with the EU like Norway, or having a special arrangement with Ireland called the backstop.
“We can accept any of those three, but we just need the United Kingdom to accept one of them,” he added.
Rutte echoed those statements, saying “the ball is clearly in the UK’s court right now.”
Rutte and Varadkar will be meeting with other European leaders in Sibiu, Romania on Thursday, to discuss a broad range of issues facing the bloc after Brexit.