The EU shoots down Boris Johnson's letter further
The press officer for European Commission tweets out:
".@EU_Commission welcomes UK gov's engagement & continued commitment to an orderly withdrawal. We firmly believe this is in the best interests of the EU & the UK. However, the letter doesn't provide a legal, operational solution to prevent the return of a hard border on island of Ireland.
It does not set out what any alternative arrangements could be. In fact, it recognises that there is no guarantee that such arrangements will be in place by the end of the transition period. As stated on many occasions, we stand ready to work constructively within our mandate."
Meanwhile, at the same time we're seeing Donald Tusk also tweet a message saying that:
"The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it."
In which Simon Coveney endorses by saying that this has been the EU's position all along and it remains that way. Nothing new but it continues to lay down the path that we're headed as long as Boris Johnson continues to demand that the backstop needs to be removed.
