Posted: Oct 11, 2018 12:15 pm
Teague wrote:Thommo wrote:Teague wrote:Thommo wrote:
I honestly don't see any mention of hard borders in that. Which part do you think applies?
No, I'm not saying that does say hard borders but from a position of equality as stated in the declaration, how do you take EU proposals into consideration when one side is in the EU and the other is under WTO rules?
What "relevant EU meetings" does the presence or lack of a hard border affect? None that I can see.
What?
We were discussing whether a hard border, as opposed to a soft border would breach the Good Friday Agreement. To that end you posted a quote from the agreement:
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
Which places a responsibility on the Council that the European side of matters must be represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings.
As far as I can tell this is completely unaffected by the existence of a hard border as opposed to a soft border. The only demand is that "relevant EU meetings" receive "appropriate representation", so I asked which "relevant EU meetings" would be affected, and how. It would be good if you could answer that question, unless you agree with me that the passage doesn't bear on the situation.
Teague wrote:There will be a hard border with border checks there and the GFA stipulates equal trade between the two.
The part you quoted does not stipulate that, perhaps you could quote which part you're referring to?
Teague wrote:A soft border wouldn't have checks but trade rules would still be different. Then when the IRA return, we'll be back to square one. Hard border - british soldiers patroling the streets of NI.
This is an unfortunate possibility, yes. I'm not sure how that ties in with the passage you were discussing or the question of whether the GFA has been breached, and if so, by whom.