The EU has finally revealed its game plan. The commission’s EU’s chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said a no-deal Brexit will inevitably cause a hard border in Ireland.
In other words, the EU will order Dublin to erect a hard border.
This is exactly what People Before Profit has been warning against for months.
The battle over Brexit involves a power play between two bullies – the EU and Tory Britain. Both are willing to take any measures to get their way. They have no interest in the welfare of working people in either of their domains because this is a fight over which elite benefits most from the divorce settlement.
Both will even threaten people with a break in supplies of food and medicines – just to push the other into accepting their version of a divorce settlement.
Up to now, the EU has been using Ireland as its lever to force the British government to accept terms that are more favourable to them. But contrary to all the talk about ‘our partners’ or ‘our gallant allies in Europe’ they have the not slightest interest in the aspirations of most Irish people. As soon as the Irish lever ceases to be useful , they will insist on a hard border.
If the Dublin government had an ounce of courage and honesty, they would now issue a public declaration now that they will never impose a border on this island. They would tell the EU that the peace and the democratic rights of people on this island are more important than EU tariffs.
Instead of cow towing to the EU or to Britain, they would initiate an immediate campaign of public pressure to demand a border poll. This will face huge opposition from the DUP who have a strangle hold over May’s government. But if the demand for a border poll is backed up with popular agitation, that hold can be broken. Despite all their talk, the DUP is now a hard, right wing minority within the North itself when it comes to Brexit.
As the end game draws near, pressure needs to grown on Varadkar on his allies in Fianna Fail to resist orders from the EU. We deserve no less.
