Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says Brexit talks need time to work

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Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says Brexit talks need time to work

Simon Coveney speaks at the launch of his party's manifesto for the Irish general elections in Dublin, Ireland, on January 24th, 2020. BRUSSELS, Oct 18 Reuters - EU and Irish negotiators need to be given time to discuss possible changes to Northern Ireland's trading arrangements, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Monday, expressing hope that they could register progress in the next few weeks.

Coveney has made a major move in trying to ease trade from Britain to Northern Ireland with a package which was highly appreciated in the British province, particularly by business community, said The European Commission. There is a process of dialogue agreed between both sides and I think we need to give this time and space to work. Coveney has not said their package is a "take it or leave it'" package, the EU said.

Coveney told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers that the statements made by the British government in the first half of last week had been unhelpful and appeared to be creating a relatively new problem, over the role of the European Court of Justice, rather than solving problems simply on the ground.

Since then, the Commission vice-president David Frost and British Brexit Minister Maros Sefcovic have met in Brussels to discuss a solution.

The Frost-Sefcovic discussions since that package was introduced on Wednesday would suggest that both sides are taking that dialog and that discussion very seriously, and hopefully we'll see progress in the next few weeks, Coveney said.

In a statement following the Frost-Sefcovic meeting last Friday, British government said it would discuss the EU proposals in a constructive manner and in a positive spirit.

Frost repeated the British view that significant changes are still required to the current arrangements, including on governance.

We recognize that the British government has an issue there, but also recognize that the British government has obligations under international law to implement the treaty which they themselves had designed, ratified and now have an obligation to implement, Coveney said.

Further talks will continue in Brussels this week.