Sunday

28th May 2023

No border controls in Northern Ireland, May pledges

  • UK premier May at Stormont Castle with first minister Foster (l) and deputy first minister McGuinness (Photo: Prime minister's office)

UK prime minister Theresa May said Monday that there would be no border controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

On her first visit to Belfast as PM, May said: "Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past".

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"If you look ahead, what is going to happen when the UK leaves the European Union is that of course Northern Ireland will have a border with the Republic of Ireland, which will remain a member of the European Union," May said.

She added: "But we've had a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union."

May met with Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers, Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness, for talks she described as "very constructive, positive".

The Brexit vote raised concerns over its impact on the peace agreement achieved 18 years ago between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists wanting to break away from the UK, along with questions over border controls and the future of EU funding.

May said she wanted the final deal with the EU to be in the best interest of the UK as a whole.

Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, with 56 percent of voters casting their ballot for Remain. Its leaders were divided: Foster campaigned for Leave, while McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander campaigned to remain.

McGuinness earlier argued for a referendum to split Northern Ireland from the UK to be able to remain in the EU

"I speak for the people of the North, who are Unionist and Nationalist, and have made it clear that they see their future in Europe ... There is no good news whatsoever in Brexit for anybody in the North," he said after meeting May.

May extends Brexit olive branch

The British PM is to launch new Brexit talks with Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, as nerves fray, also among banks, at the prospect of a "hard" EU exit.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon
  2. EU criminal complicity in Libya needs recognition, says expert
  3. Europe's missing mails
  4. MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024
  5. PFAS 'forever chemicals' cost society €16 trillion a year
  6. EU will 'react as appropriate' to Russian nukes in Belarus
  7. The EU needs to foster tech — not just regulate it
  8. EU: national energy price-spike measures should end this year

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us