Iceland: EU 'willing' to find a solution on Brexit backstop – Merkel

W/S Prime Ministers of Norway Erna Solberg, of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, of Iceland Katrin Jakobsdottir, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Finland Antii Rinne and of Sweden Stefan Loevfen hold joint press conference during Nordic Prime Ministers meeting on the Icelandic island of Vidbey
M/S Solberg, Frederiksen and Jakobsdottir
C/U Sign reading, "Nordic Prime Ministers meeting" *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "That moment, when we have a practical solution on how to uphold the Good Friday agreement and nevertheless be able to define the border of the internal market, we won't need the backstop any longer. This means we will think about practical solutions and I always say if you want to find these solutions in the near future, you can find them quickly. The European Union is willing to do that."
M/S Cameras *CUTAWAY* *NO AUDIO AT SOURCE*
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "Furthermore Great Britain will decide themselves which way to go. From our side we have offered to work closely together, especially with regards to the economy, but also to security and foreign policy. And it will be seen, which way Great Britain wants to follow."
C/U Camera *CUTAWAY* *NO AUDIO AT SOURCE*
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "In general, there is no either-or situation. We are all and to a majority part of NATO, we are in a transatlantic partnership and that is why I don't see an either-or situation but as a situation where we need to work together."
M/S Jakobsdottir, Merkel and Rinne
SOT, Antii Rinne, Finnish Prime Minister: "We have made very clear to Mr. Putin that what has happened in Ukraine because of Russian, it is not right and they need to follow the Minsk agreement."
W/S Journalists and leaders during the press conference
SOT, Erna Solberg, Norwegian Prime Minister: "We see that extremist groups are collaborating between the different countries, and that we need -- and we have discussed this earlier -- that we need to find ways of collaborating even better, that our police is working better both on different types of extremists groups. But we have to be honest, at least in Norway, that the uprising now on the right wing extremism has become bigger than it used to be."
C/U Camera *CUTAWAY* *NO AUDIO AT SOURCE*
SOT, Erna Solberg, Norwegian Prime Minister: "We had quite a good collaboration on Islamic radicalisation and cooperation both inside the European Union and between our countries. But we need to work even better on how to combat these networks."
M/S Cameras *CUTAWAY* *NO AUDIO AT SOURCE*
W/S Journalists and leaders during the press conference
SCRIPT
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union was willing to quickly find a solution to Irish border issue with the United Kingdom during a press conference in the Icelandic island of Vidbey at a meeting of Nordic leaders on Tuesday.
"That moment, when we have a practical solution on how to uphold the Good Friday agreement and nevertheless be able to define the border of the internal market, we won't need the backstop any longer," she said. "This means we will think about practical solutions and I always say if you want to find these solutions in the near future, you can find them quickly. The European Union is willing to do that.''
Merkel was invited to take part as the guest of honour at the yearly meeting of Nordic leaders in Iceland, between the Prime Ministers of Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
They discussed European politics and other issues including the situation in Ukraine, about which Finnish PM Antii Rinne said, "What has happened in Ukraine because of Russian is not right and they need to follow the Minsk agreement."