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Pinn’s illustration of the week: Backstop magic


Boris Johnson, on his first trip to EU capitals as UK prime minister, met for talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Mr Johnson was hopeful that a revised Brexit deal could be struck, but insisted that the backstop, an insurance provision in the withdrawal agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, had to be removed to prevent a no-deal Brexit. He added “Wir schaffen das” (“we can do it”), a phrase used by Ms Merkel during the migrant crisis of 2015.

Ms Merkel hoped the UK and EU could come up with a solution to the Irish border within the next 30 days, which would make the backstop unnecessary. All previous solutions presented by the UK have been rejected as unworkable, but Mr Johnson still thought “that technical solutions are readily available”.

Mr Macron was more sceptical, saying that if a solution could not be found “it means the problem is deeper, it’s political, it’s a British political problem and at that point it’s not a negotiation that can solve it — it’s a political choice that the prime minister [Mr Johnson] will have to make. It’s not up to us.”



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