The UK has been told to come up with a solution to the border issue on the island of Ireland for a post-Brexit world or face Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union and single market.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator on Brexit issued the warning on Friday to the UK at a press conference.

Barnier said that the EU has focused on solutions to avoid a hard border and that any solution must be precise, clear and unambiguous.

Quoting a joint report, he said three options were provided for Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

“First solving the issues on the island of Ireland through the future relationship and this future relationship would need to avoid a hard border and protect north-south co-operation and the Good Friday Agreement.”

Once again, it is important to tell the truth, the UK decision to leave the single market and to leave the customs union would make border checks unavoidable.

“Second, the UK has committed to proposing specific solutions to the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland and we are waiting for such solutions.

“The third option is to maintain full regulatory alignment with the rules of the single market and the customs union, current or future which supports north-south co-operation, the all-island economy and the Good Friday Agreement.”

Following these comments, he said that option one and two can only be made operational in the context of the future relationship.

“In the meantime it is our responsibility to include the third option in the text of the withdrawal agreement to guarantee that there will be no hard border whatever the circumstances.”

This, he said, means that the EU must now start legally defining how the scenario will work in operational terms.

“There must be no ambiguity here. Based on the discussions this week, the UK has accepted the necessity of discussing how to make this full alignment scenario operational provided we discuss the other two options in parallel.

“This is what we will work on in the coming rounds,” he said.

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