The Irish Border Issue in Brexit Qu Bing and Wang Shuo The Irish Border Issue in Brexit The Irish Border Issue in Brexit Qu Bing & Wang Shuo* Abstract: After a long period of obsolescence, the Irish border issue has reemerged in the context of Brexit, and any solution will affect not only the UK’s national unity, but also the Northern Ireland peace process and UK-EU economic and trade relations. Back-and-forth negotiations brought about the Draft Withdrawal Agreement, which included the“backstop” arrangement for the Irish border. This agreement soon suffered strong opposition in the UK Parliament, while the EU refused to make any substantive concessions. Trapping Brexit into the“Britain-drag”, the Irish border issue has become Brexit’s bottleneck. While the border issue carries sensitivity and complexity in itself, another even more important reason that is so significant is that it has become clear that the UK and the EU are not on the same track when it comes to interest defining and policy selection, never mind the tangled mentalities of Brexit. The Brexit dilemma, when combined with the Irish border issue, has cast a spotlight on the West’s political and social fragmentation, as well as the dysfunction of its parliamentary democracy. No matter how the withdrawal deal is settled in the future, the UK and the EU are likely to be persecuted by the Irish border issue for a long time to come. Keywords: Brexit, Irish border,“Backstop”Arrangement, the UK-EU relationship ith the UK part of the EU, the border between Northern Ireland and Wthe Republic of Ireland (the Irish border) was kept invisible, and was not construed as a“problem”at all. However, Brexit has broken the status quo. As Brexit negotiations moved towards specifics, the Irish border * Qu Bing is an associate research professor at the Institute of European Studies, CICIR, whose research expertise covers the United Kingdom. Wang Shuo is deputy director and a research professor at the Institute of European Studies, CICIR, whose research expertise covers European integration and the European economy. CIR November/December 2019 1 Qu Bing and Wang Shuo gradually became the trickiest question of all, with the“backstop”arrangement for avoiding a“hard border”in the island of Ireland as the focus of controversy. While the Draft Withdrawal Agreement encountered strong opposition in the UK Parliament, the EU maintained a firm ground in amending the agreement, leading to the protraction of Brexit. Without the Irish border issue, Brexit would be able to progress much more smoothly. As such, what is the origin of the Irish border issue and how did it become the Brexit Achilles heel? What are the underlying reasons for the deadlocked disputes between the UK and the EU? What domestic entanglement has the UK fallen into? This study attempts to respond to these questions, to sort out the internal logics and then to further explore potential prospects. I The Irish border issue, as a historical legacy, was basically resolved along with European integration and the Northern Ireland peace process. However, it resurfaced with Brexit. The issue of whether or not to keep the Irish border open is highly significant, and is important in terms of socioeconomics and political security. A. The Irish border grew from nothing and evolved from“soft”to“hard”. Ireland was the first English colony, and the Irish struggle against British rule never ceased. The“Easter Rising”and the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) after World War I were the climax of the Irish fight against Britain. In December 1921, the British government allowed the 26 counties of southern Ireland to establish a“Free State”, while the six counties of the north (Northern Ireland) remained under British rule. With the Irish North-South partition, a borderline of approximately 500 kilometres between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland came into existence. Looking at the historical context, Vincent Boland of the UK’s Financial Times pointed out that“[t]he border was meant to provide protection—both physical security and the guarantee of their political and cultural identity—for the province’s majority Protestant population, and especially for the communities living beside the frontier itself.”1 During 1 Vincent Boland,“Dividing Line: Brexit and the Threat to the Irish Border,” Financial Times, May 18, 2017. CIR Vol. 29 No. 6 2 The Irish Border Issue in Brexit the mid-1920s, Britain and Ireland established the“Common Travel Area”, as a means of ensuring that the free movement of people between Northern Ireland and Ireland would not be affected by the North-South partition. Before the 1970s, most roads crossing the border were unimpeded, and only the crossing of cars and the transportation of goods were subject to certain restrictions. From 1968, conflicts between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland intensified with repeated violent incidents, and Northern Ireland entered“The Troubles”. In November 1971, two civilian customs officers were shot dead at their post by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) snipers.1 To prevent paramilitaries like the IRA from carrying out violent activities, Britain imposed strict frontier controls, closing more than 200 small roads across the border, putting up barbed wire, and setting up checkpoints and watchtowers along the borderline. The result was that these security facilities, as well as the patrolling military, police and militiamen, became targets of the paramilitaries’ attacks instead. The Irish border retrogressed from“an economic border”into“a military border”, with the border zone becoming increasingly dangerous. B. European Integration and the Northern Ireland Peace Process turned the Irish border from“hard”to“soft”. On January 1, 1993, the European Single Market was officially launched, and this enabled members to abolish trade frontiers and freed the cross-border goods from having to undergo customs checks. But Britain’s security checkpoints along the Irish border obstructed the free movement of both people and goods. Beginning in 1994, and in particular after the Belfast Agreement of 1998, the Northern Ireland peace process entered a new stage. This was marked by the UK pulling down its checkpoints, watchtowers and other security facilities along the border. Accordingly, the Irish border has in reality become an “open border”(also referred to as a“soft border”).2 Northern Ireland society has returned to normal, with a significant decline in the fatalities through “1 Brexit and the Irish Border,”Times, April 6, 2018. 2 On April 10, 1998, the British government, the Irish government and major political parties of Northern Ireland signed the Belfast Agreement (also called the Good Friday Agreement), putting an end to over three decades of conflicts and unrest and opening a new chapter of peace in Northern Ireland. CIR November/December 2019 3 Qu Bing and Wang Shuo violent conflicts. According to statistics, in the 30 years from 1969 to 1998, the Northern Ireland conflicts led to almost 3,500 deaths, while from April 1998 to April 2018, only 158 died in direct relation to violent conflicts.1 In order to nurture economic development and social integration, the Belfast Agreement established a mechanism for cross-border cooperation between Northern Ireland and Ireland (the so-called North-South cooperation) in trade, education, medicare and agriculture, etc. In 2017, the UK government and the European Commission confirmed 142 areas of north- south cooperation. Cross-border travel increased significantly, with 30,000 people crossing the border each day for work, school or doctors visits.2 More than 80 percent of cross-border trade was carried out by small and medium-sized companies, whose production and supply chains often involved multiple border crossings. The Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association pointed out that 30 percent of the province’s milk and 40 percent of its sheep went south (to the Republic of Ireland) for processing. Both Guinness and Bailey’s Irish Cream crossed the border for canning, bottling and export.3 This meticulously demonstrates the hand-in-glove North-South cooperation in the island of Ireland. C. Brexit poses the potential risks of turning the Irish border from “soft”to“hard”again. While the UK and Ireland are both members of the EU, the two countries belong to the Single Market and Tariff Union, enjoying free movement of people and goods, as well as normalized and de-politicized cooperation across the border.4 After Brexit, the border between Northern 1 Steven McCaffery,“Key Legacy of Good Friday Agreement: Lives Saved,”April 10, 2018, accessed December 13, 2018, https://www.thedetail.tv/articles/the-legacy-of -the-good-friday-agreement-how-the-peace-dividend-has-saved-lives. 2 Colm Kelpie“, Officials Pore through 142 Irish Issues in the Great British Break -off,”November 4, 2017, accessed May 23, 2019, https://www.independent.ie/business /brexit/officials-pore-through-142-irish-issues-in-the-great-british-breakoff-36288014.html. 3“Free Falling,”Economist, November 24, 2018, 24. 4 The Single Market is the advanced stage of European integration with comprehensively uniformed or mutually recognized standards among the members, enabling free movement of goods, people, services and capital. The benefits of the Customs Union include zero tariffs, quota free, no need for certificates of origin and the members mainly need to TBT and SPS verification only. See European Parliament“, Customs unions and FTAs: Debate with respect to EU neighbours,”November 2017, accessed May 23, 2019, http://www.europarl.europa.eu /RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/608797/EPRS_BRI%282017%29608797_EN.pdf. CIR Vol. 29 No. 6 4 The Irish Border Issue in Brexit Ireland and Ireland will be the only land border between the UK and the EU, and that will also be the border between the“EU area”and the“non- EU area”.