MNI SOURCES:Backstop Arbitration May Unblock Brexit: EU Source

David Thomas

     LONDON (MNI) - The EU could agree to a protocol to apply an arbitration

mechanism to the Irish backstop in a bid to break an impasse over the Withdrawal

Agreement with the UK, an EU source said, as Prime Minister Theresa May

travelled to Strasbourg for last-minute talks.

     The possibility of firming up text on arbitration, with the aim of

reassuring UK lawmakers that any future dispute over leaving the backstop would 

be settled impartially, was reported March 6 by MNI, ahead of the March 29 date

for Brexit.

     The EU source said that agreement between the two sides over the weekend

had been very close but that it had been "London's choice" not to go ahead.

     "I think it's possible that if there is a text on an arbitration panel that

reassures the UK and also conforms with the Withdrawal Agreement - then fair

enough," the source said, adding that their door was always open if the UK

government needed extra legal reassurance.

     "We have gone the extra mile. Every time we deliver but every time it is

one step forward and one step back," the source said. "There are always

technical solutions but it comes down to political choices."

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2223; email: david.robinson@marketnews.com

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