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LONDON – The European Union and the UK said they need more time to continue “scoping” to fix a long-running dispute over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.
European Commission Vice President Maros Šefčovič and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met via videoconferencing on Monday to “discuss the extent of the current challenges over the past two years and find solutions together to tackle the real-life concerns of all communities in Northern Ireland”. discussed the need for he said in a joint statement,
Officials had hoped that the scoping exercise, launched last Monday, could be finalized by today, and pave the way for so-called tunnel discussions – the final part of intense talks to speed up a deal on the protocol .
Instead, they agreed that the search for a solution to the dispute “should continue in a constructive and cooperative spirit, taking into account each other’s legitimate interests,” the joint statement said.
Brussels and London have long been at loggerheads over the Northern Ireland Protocol, the piece of the post-Brexit divorce deal that makes Northern Ireland – part of the UK – subject to EU sanitary and regulatory standards on goods.
The arrangement means the flow of goods across the politically sensitive Irish land border is unimpeded, but checks are required on goods imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. Anger over those rules among British unionists in Northern Ireland has prompted the collapse of the region’s power-sharing government.
Earlier on Monday, Number 10 Downing Street appeared to play down hopes of an imminent breakthrough, saying a gap remained between London and Brussels.
Asked about the meeting, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said, “They will continue to look at any progress.”
“But as we have said on several occasions, there are still gaps in our position that need to be addressed to address the full range of problems created by the protocol.”
Senior government officials in Belfast and Dublin pointed to the brevity of Monday’s joint statement and its broadly positive tone, reflecting the creativity and seriousness of the ongoing London-Brussels dialogue.
He said it set the stage for Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to postpone, once again, his often-threatened “deadline” for Northern Ireland’s divided politicians to end the region’s 1998 peace accord. To form a new cross-community government in line with . An announcement to that effect by Heaton-Harris is expected later this week.
“It’s very much a ‘watch this space’ kind of announcement. The language is entirely positive and in sync with the UK. The lack of detail suggests that every outstanding issue is still under discussion, but it There is clearly a positive atmosphere, unlike this time last year,” said a Dublin government official.
The same official noted that, when they spoke by telephone last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that the EU intended to keep to a minimum information about the state of negotiations , until a settlement is reached.
Sunak’s challenge
Resolving the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit rules poses an early diplomatic and political test for Sunak, who could face opposition from hardline Brexiteers in his own party for a deal.
EU and UK negotiators have made progress on customs duties, and are close to finalizing a solution to a long-running legal row over tariff rate quotas, which have put Northern Ireland at a higher level than the UK on products such as steel. Prevented from reducing import duty. according to three people familiar with the talks,
But to reach a comprehensive agreement, Sunak must decide whether to abandon the UK’s long-standing demand to replace the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as the final adjudicator of disputes over the protocol. is a mediator.
The issue does not feature prominently in current discussions as it is not included in Šefčovič’s negotiating mandate.
Diplomats warned that Sunak would need to woo unionists in Northern Ireland as well as Eurosceptic backbenchers within his own Conservative Party, failing to address his calls to remove or limit the role of the CJEU Is.
Brexiters in the Conservative Party’s European Research Group of MPs are not worried about the state of the talks, according to two members.
,[I’m] Sunak is not worried at all. I think he understands the issues. He also understands that if the DUP cannot satisfy, any new arrangement will be pointless,” because “it will not restore the institutions in Northern Ireland, which is the key point,” said one of them.
Monday’s statement comes as Washington smartly prepares to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, with the Northern Ireland dispute – over which some in Washington have already spoken – Between upcoming topics.