Responsibility for Irish Border Issue Hampering Brexit Process Lies With UK - Tusk

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) The responsibility for the Irish border being a stumbling block in the Brexit negotiations fully lies on the UK Cabinet's so-called Brexiteers, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Nigel Farage, the member of the European Parliament and the former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said that the EU claims on Irish border being an impediment in the divorce talks is "a red herring," saying that there are many solutions to the issue lying on the surface.

"In response to @Nigel_Farage in EP: I don't know what the result of the #brexit talks is going to be.

But I know that it is the Brexiteers, who are 100% responsible for bringing back the problem of the Irish border," Tusk wrote on Twitter.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said last week that reaching an agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union on the UK withdrawal from the bloc is possible, but there is no certainty on this issue as the Irish border still remains an unresolved matter.

The issue of Northern Ireland remains a thorny issue in Brexit talks. The main challenge for London is to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and, at the same time, secure the nation's integrity.