Northern Ireland Border Becomes ‘Real Problem’ In Brexit Talks

Negotiations over a “hard border” in Northern Ireland has become a “real problem” in the United Kingdom’s continued Brexit discussions with the European Union, the BBC News reported Monday.

The EU reportedly wants to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland that would include physical checks. British prime minister Theresa May has added, though, that any backstop arrangement applies to the United Kingdom as a whole and not just Northern Ireland, the BBC News stated.

The impasse is threatening the possibility of a deal being worked out between the United Kingdom and the EU by the time the country is expected to break away from the European Union in March 2019.

The union has provided a single market and a customs union that allowed for friction-free trade between members, BBC News wrote. UK negotiators have been negotiating a deal to lessen the blow of having those advantages go away when Brexit takes effect.

The British broadcaster wrote that while both the UK and the European Union wants to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland, they are struggling to figure out a way that can be accomplished – and agreeing on it.

May has rejected a European Union proposal of the Northern Ireland “backstop to the backstop” proposal that would place a customs border in the Irish Sea, according to The Guardian Monday.