Agreement on the Brexit transition and much of the legal text of the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement will allow EU leaders to approve the opening of a new phase of talks on trade and their future relationship. But important disagreements remain for further talks, not least on the Irish Border. They agreed, moreover, in an important concession to Dublin, that the backstop protocol in the December report should be reflected in the legal provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement. British sources were, however, insisting that although there was agreement to the principle of a backstop there was still no agreement on how it would be expressed. Asked if the UK insistence in December on no impediments to trade across the Irish Sea was reflected in the latest agreement, UK Brexit secretary David Davis would only say that the “aim” of their agreement was no hard border.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2018 14:19 UTC