Finding Irish border solution after Brexit 'lies with UK', says Verhofstadt

The burden of finding a solution to the issue of the Irish border after Brexit lies firmly with the UK Government, the European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator has said.

Guy Verhofstadt spoke about the issue in Belfast at the start of a two-day fact-finding mission.

Reiterating the EU stance, he said ideas to solve the problem of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland proposed by the Government so far were not acceptable.

In an interview with RTE Radio One, he said: "There are possibilities, for example you could imagine one proposal on the table that Northern Ireland continued to be part of the customs union and even of the single market.

"The point is it is the UK Government that has to come forward with such unique solutions."

He said a "resurrection of a hard border in Northern Ireland" is "not in the interests of business in Northern Ireland and Ireland, neither in the interests of the citizens".

Mr Verhofstadt, an MEP who liaises between the EU negotiating team and the European Parliament, met with Northern Ireland's political leaders.

His trip also includes a visit to Irish border communities that harbour concerns about the impact of Brexit, and a stop in Dublin to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and address a special joint sitting of a number of Irish parliamentary committees.

Mr Verhofstadt said he was sceptical of the UK's position paper on the border post-Brexit, which suggested there would be no need for physical customs checks on the frontier even if the UK is outside the customs union.

The Whitehall paper effectively recommended no changes to the current arrangements, with the Government saying it wanted a seamless and frictionless frontier.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier has said the proposals are "unacceptable".

After talks at Stormont, MEP Diane Dodds, who was part of the Democratic Unionist delegation meeting with Mr Verhofstadt, said Northern Ireland could not be treated differently from the rest of the UK.

She took Mr Verhofstadt to task for saying the onus of a solution rests with the UK.

"These talks will only be successful if the two sides are willing and able to talk through a sensible solution to Brexit," she said. "Soundbites like this ... will not reflect the reality of the solution when it comes."

Sinn Fein's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill said after the talks: "We've made very clear to him today the issues which we need to see - we need to remain in the customs union, we need to have access to the single market, we need to see no return to hard borders and to see citizens have access to the European Court of Justice."

Mr Verhofstadt's visit comes shortly before a crucial summit in Brussels next month, when leaders of the EU27 will decide whether "sufficient progress" has been made in the first phase of Brexit talks - and determine whether the negotiators can move on to discussing a future relationship.

The EU has insisted progress has to be made in three key areas: citizens' rights, the UK's financial obligations and the shape of the Irish border.

Mr Verhofstadt, who refused to speculate on Theresa May's upcoming Brexit speech in Florence, said there remained a "dispute" on the exit bill and that there were "big differences" in terms of both sides' position on citizens' rights.