Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "'You can't go into a negotiation just saying no' - will the European Commission compromise?" video.

The weakness in the EU position is that it has failed to say what it is going to do about the open border in Ireland, following a no deal brexit. Either it will impose a border on Ireland or it has a plan for alternative arrangements. The former betrays the RoI, the latter implies that the backstop is unnecessary. Which is it?
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@helloweener2007 there is a significant time delay before the WTO can take any action, the EU cannot afford this delay. The US is unlikely to act in this case because of the significant Irish lobby in the US. I doubt if the WTO can force the UK to break an international treaty and in any case, both the RoI and the UK would need to be forced to impose a border. A border imposed by the UK alone would by mono directional, stopping import to the UK, but allowing exports into the RoI and thus the EU.
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@sweruw268 well unless someone builds trump's wall in Ireland, a few check post are not going to make much difference. What cannot happen is that Ireland is used to trap the UK in the EU customs union. If the EU wants to protect its border from products from the UK via NI, it is going to be forced to come up with a solution.
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@biocapsule7311 the UK has a right to leave the EU with out interference from any member state. There is nothing in article 50 that says the RoI government has a right to veto the UK's exit. if the EU wants a border in the North sea, let them pay the £20 billion to maintain NI. They could try and trigger a reunification referendum in Ireland, but I doubt if the EU or the RoI wants that. If the referendum fails the EU are in a worse position than they are now, if it succeeds, the EU would need to take on the political and financial liability of NI. I suspect they might have problems with loyalist part of the population. The same would probably result if NI is separated from the rest of the UK by an EU controlled customs union. If NI is separated from the rest of the rest of the UK, why should it continue to support it, which comes back to the EU funding NI.
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@helloweener2007 you really have not been listening, BOTH the UK and the RoI have stated that they will not impose a border in Ireland, therefore neither party will be in breach of the GFA. It will be the EU that imposes the border. If it does it will be the EU telling the RoI government to establish a border. So much for Irish sovereignty. Effectively the EU will be telling the Irish government to cut links with its biggest trading partner in order to protect the EU market. You are right about the EU being a political project, one that the UK wants no part of, it appears the Irish are too stupid to realise that they have signed up to a totalitarian dictatorship, but their blindness is no reason to block the UK's escape from the coming dystopian nightmare of the EU super state.
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@Yotun-of-the-WWW ,you maybe right, but Barnier has hinted that they have made alternative arrangements, I wold like to know what.
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@helloweener2007 a little bit of sovereignty, don't be silly, the member states have oven away all their sovereignty and sold their countries souls to the EU eurocrats. They are deluded into thinking they still have some control, they only find they don't when they do something the EU does not like. The EU intransigence, regarding the Irish border issue has more to do with keeping the UK in the union and maintaining control over it.
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@biocapsule7311 difficult to sue the UK for honouring an international treaty. It is NI that has a divided allegiance, it wants the best of both worlds, or rather it has a divided population with some with allegiance to the UK, while others have an allegiance to the RoI. Unfortunately both groups what the financial support provided by the rest of the UK.
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@biocapsule7311 it will be up to the UK how and how well it manages its border. The UK has said it will not impose a hard border. It could define a hard border and not police it. The IRA are doing their bit to make the GFA irrelevant, since the purpose of the treaty was to keep the peace and the IRA have said its latest bombing campaign is independent of brexit. Looks as if the UK has a justification to ignore the GFA.
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@biocapsule7311 i doubt it. The same constraint will apply to the RoI, so both the UK and the RoI will be in breach of the GFA.
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@biocapsule7311 i suggest you read article 50 as it relates to liabilities of a state leaving without a deal. The UK could seek reparations from the EU. In any case I doubt if action regarding the GFA will amount to anything.the triggering of article 50 is not directly related to the GFA. The UK could point to EU intransigence as a reason for the implementation of a hard border.
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