Won't accept border in normal sense: German justice minister

The European Union does not see any solution to resolving the issue of Irish border arrangements after Brexit other than having a backstop, German justice minister Katarina Barley said on Friday. British lawmakers on Tuesday instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to reopen her Brexit treaty with the EU to replace the backstop - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border in Ireland - but promptly received a rejection from Brussels.

"We definitely will not accept a border in the normal sense between Ireland and Northern Ireland, that is something that we've been very clear about from the very beginning," Barley told Irish broadcaster RTE. "The problem is we don't see any other proposition by the British government," she said.