Brexit analysis: Deal is a holding of the line for Ireland
We now return to the pre-Withdrawal Agreement treaty text and the ‘fudge’ that was December’s agreement
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney after a meeting with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday. Photograph: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg
A case of two steps forward, and one backwards. But progress nonetheless, inasmuch as political commitments are being turned into legal obligations.
When EU negotiators signed off in December on the joint report that was supposed to wrap up the phase one talks on UK withdrawal they included a “no backsliding” clause. This made it clear that progress in other areas of the negotiations would be dependent on copperfastening in legal language what had already been agreed.