EU negotiators will this week insist the British abandon their hardline position and show a willingness to commit to the so-called backstop guaranteeing no hard border in Ireland post-Brexit before talks progress. She said it would create a border in the Irish Sea dividing Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The UK government has, however, not yet signalled how it would maintain an open border. “She is not being asked to agree to the backstop but more to the principle that there has to be a backstop,” said one EU source. Mr Varadkar will travel to Berlin on Tuesday to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the key EU summit at the end of the week.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2018 01:07 UTC