'It's in Ireland's towering national interest to have a deal' Barry Andrews MEP #Brexit

Following last week’s European Council, President of the European Council Charles Michel, Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič and EU Chief negotiator for relations with the UK, Michel Barnier presented the conclusions to MEPs.

EU Reporter interviewed Irish Fianna Fail MEP, Barry Andrews about the most recent developments. He said that following the European Council there had been a bit of a rocky weekend with Boris Johnson claiming that the negotiations were over. He welcomed that the Joint Committee meeting, established under the Withdrawal Agreement, had been successful and was optimistic that the talks would resume later in the week - which they have. 

Andrews said: “It is in Ireland's towering national interest that we have a deal. And the sooner that happens, the better so the European Parliament could get on with the job of ratification.”

Asked about whether he thought the UK would be willing to make the compromises that the European Union are insisting on, Andrews said anybody who's looked at the UK economy will recognize that, without a deal, the UK economy can be very badly affected, and particularly the areas that voted for Boris Johnson a year ago. He said: “I think he knows as well as everybody that without a deal, it's gonna be very damaging for the UK.”

He said that the Parliament has total trust in the EU’s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier.

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