Brexit minister warns there is a big gap between the EU and UK

340
5
Brexit minister warns there is a big gap between the EU and UK

David Frost, the UK s Brexit minister, has warned that there is a big gap between the EU and the UK as he enters talks with the European Commission over changes to the arrangements for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The EU has offered to sweep away most customs and health checks on animal and plant products entering Northern Ireland under a revision of the current system but both sides privately acknowledge that fundamental differences still exist between their visions for the future.

The EU has been preparing for the worst with options ranging from imposition of tariffs on UK imports to termination of the entire trade and cooperation agreement in case Downing Street decides to kill the talks and suspend the current Northern Ireland protocol via triggering its article 16 Article 2.

A group of EU members known as the Washington Group met on Monday with the Brexit Commissioner Maro ef ovi to be briefed on the proposals he announced on Wednesday. At that meeting, Spain and Italy, with the support of France and Germany, pushed for tough measures to be prepared.

One diplomatic source aware of the discussions however, played down the chances for the entire deal to be terminated.

You would immediately lose all the main levers in the UK trade and cooperation agreement that can be pulled to put pressure on the UK, everything from tariffs to electricity supply, said source. It would be a short-term move and not in the EU interests. But tariffs in short term is something that people can get behind. He said during an appearance in Brussels for a lunch meeting with ef ovi at the start of negotiations on revisions to the current protocol that Frost was quite encouraged that the EU had certainly made an effort in pushing beyond where they typically go in these areas, but he offered some words of warning over the fundamental differences between the EU and British about the policing of the laws and regulations in Northern Ireland, which the Brexit minister has earlier said come down to being a matter of sovereignty.

We ve got commission proposals. He said: Obviously ours are on the table as well so we re looking forward to good discussions and there is a lot of work to do because there are gaps.

The governance arrangements don t work we need to take the court out of the system as it is now and we need to find a better way forward. All this is for discussion and i m looking forward but our position is clear and has always been as set out in the Command Paper. What is the Northern Ireland Protocol? Within the Northern Ireland withdrawal agreement with the EU, the Northern Ireland protocol sets out arrangements that effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market, drawing a customs border between it and the rest of the UK, with checks on goods passing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. So there is no need for checks across the Irish border with the UK. The 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement requires keeping the land border open and that there be no new infrastructure such as cameras and border posts. both the European Union and the British Government recognise that the implementation of this deal triggered the disruption of supply chains, decreased costs and added choice for consumers in Northern Ireland.

The rules mean that goods such as milk and eggs have to be imported when they arrive in Northern Ireland from mainland Britain, while some produce, such as chilled meats, cannot be inspected at all. The EU wants to stop them crossing the border into the single market and then being transported by railways. Article 16 is an emergency brake in the Irish protocol, which allows either side to take unilateral action if the protocol is causing serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that can result in or diversion of trade. Serious difficulties are not defined, giving both sides leeway for interpretation. This would launch a process defined in the Treaty as consultations with the view to finding a commonly acceptable solution Article 16 is meant to be a temporary timeout, not an escape hatch. The Crucial issue is whether EU law will continue to be overseen by the European Court of Justice ECJ in Northern Ireland. UK government believes it has been proven politically unsustainable for Northern Ireland to be under laws supervised by an EU court over which its own people don't have a say.

The UK government has shown little appetite for a possible compromise solution similar to the one offered to Switzerland in which the ECJ would have advisory roles in disputes over the interpretation of EU law, but where issues would first be settled through an arbitration court.

The DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has said that EU proposals fell far short of the fundamental change needed An EU official admitted, regarding the compromise mooted by some thinktanks in recent weeks : The Swiss inspired model is that the court of justice remains at the apex of the system.

How much 'worrying' changes will affect the UK in the future? If you rely on Article 16 to suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a European Commission spokesperson would not be drawn.

What we're concentrating on is finding solutions for the people in Northern Ireland.