EU to bring forward new proposals to make Northern Ireland Protocol work
The EU is expected to bring forward new proposals on how to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol, a senior Brussels official has said.
European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said the proposals would be “very far reaching”, but that he would not consider rewriting the protocol as the UK has requested.
Sefcovic said in Dublin today: “I haven’t heard alternative – what is the alternative?”
Negotiations between the UK and EU over the protocol continue to drag on, with the implementation of a number of border checks on things like food, parcels and medicines delayed indefinitely.
The protocol is a part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and sees Northern Ireland follow the EU’s customs union and single market rules, unlike the rest of the UK, in order to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
This has created a so-called border in the Irish Sea, which has infuriated many parts of the unionist community who say it separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
Boris Johnson has called for less stringent checks on goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the EU, claiming that it is causing political and economic difficulties, and that he is willing to trigger Article 16 and rip up the protocol.
Sefcovic said today that “the protocol must be properly implemented” and that he was “seeking solutions for all, including those opposed to the protocol”.
“We will not renegotiate the protocol at the UK’s request and we will not accept cutting off Ireland from Single Market, and the related opportunities it brings,” he said.
“Step-by-step, slowly, gradually, we are getting near to where we need to be.”
On Johnson’s threats to trigger Article 16, Sefovic said: “It distracts us from working together to try to find solutions.
“It has taken us five years to get where we are today, so it is clear there are no quick easy-fix solutions to what is an extremely complex situation.”