[Published: Wednesday September 19 2018]
 EU 'ready to improve' Irish border proposal
BRUSSELS 19 Sep (ANA) - The EU is "ready to improve" its offer on the Irish border, its chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said.
The UK and EU both want to avoid a hard border - meaning any physical infrastructure like cameras or guard posts - but can't agree on how.
The EU's negotiator has now shifted tone on his "backstop" proposal to avoid a hard border.
At a summit later, Theresa May is expected to warn EU leaders not to demand the "unacceptable".
She has previously rejected the EU's "backstop" plan to keep Northern Ireland aligned with its trading rules, saying it would divide up the UK.
Ahead of the Salzburg summit, Mr Barnier said most checks could take place away from border areas.
But this was rejected by Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party which said it "still means a border down the Irish Sea although with different kinds of checks".
After Brexit, the 310 mile border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will become the UK's border with the EU.
At the moment, thousands of people cross it every day for both work and pleasure - as do goods, like food and medicines, being delivered across the two countries.
As part of the EU single market and customs union, these products do not need to be checked for customs and standards, but when the UK leaves these two arrangements, this all changes.
Nobody wants a hard border for the checks - in fact the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, got rid of security checks as part of the deal, and police in Northern Ireland have warned reinstating them could make crossings targets for violence.
But there is no agreement between the UK and EU, or between Leavers and Remainers, about the answer.(ANA)
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