Irish PM not confident on prospects of EU/British trade deal

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday that he was not confident that the European Union and Britain could strike a trade deal after London explicitly stated it would act outside international law by breaching their divorce treaty.

“I’m not optimistic at this stage,” Martin told national broadcaster RTE in an interview when asked what his level of confidence was in the two sides reaching a trade deal. Martin spoke to his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Wednesday.

“I think yesterday’s development, because it undermines trust in negotiations, makes it all the more difficult to get to where everyone says they want to get to, which is a free trade agreement with no tariffs and no quotas.” 

Earlier, Martin called on Britain to drop its plan to breach some parts of its European Union exit treaty, telling the Financial Times it was not clear now if British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted a new EU trade deal.

“I think the British government needs to move to restore trust and to give meaningful reassurance to the European negotiators,” Martin said in an interview with the newspaper.

“Our colleagues in Europe, in particular those conducting the negotiations, are now wondering whether the will is there or not to arrive at a conclusion and get an agreement — and that is a very serious issue.”