LAST UPDATE | 20 Feb 2023
THE UK AND the EU appeared to inch closer to a deal over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol after “productive” talks were held during an “intensive” phase of negotiations.
It comes after the DUP attempted to dampen hopes that it will support any deal on the Protocol, despite Downing Street raising hopes of an imminent announcement of a deal.
Downing Street earlier insisted a “final deal” had not been struck as they seek an agreement that will satisfy the demands of the DUP.
A spokesperson denied reports that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been forced to delay an announcement – widely expected as early as this week – amid backlash from senior Tories and the DUP.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and the European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in the coming days after a video discussion this afternoon.
In a tweet, Cleverly welcomed today’s discussions with the European Commission vice-president, saying that they are “focused on finding a durable solution” for Northern Ireland.
“Intensive work continues and we agreed to talk again in the coming days,” he added.
Sefcovic described their video call, which was also joined by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, as a “productive” attempt to find joint solutions.
A productive video call with @JamesCleverly and @chhcalling, taking stock of our work to find joint solutions to everyday concerns in Northern Ireland. Our 🔝 priority is to succeed for the benefit of all communities.
— Maroš Šefčovič🇪🇺 (@MarosSefcovic) February 20, 2023
Hard work continues. We've agreed to meet later this week.
“Our top priority is to succeed for the benefit of all communities. Hard work continues. We’ve agreed to meet later this week”, he tweeted.
Sources in Brussels welcomed the move to schedule in-person talks as a positive step, but said a location had not been set.
Unionists politicians are seeking changes to the trading arrangements, with the DUP blocking the operation of the Stormont Assembly as part of its opposition to the Protocol.
Changes to the Protocol might pave the way for the DUP to end their effective parliamentary veto of the Assembly but senior DUP politicians have suggested that the bar for such changes has not yet been reached.
The DUP has warned it would not support a deal retaining the oversight role of the European Court of Justice.
Downing Street officials held talks with their Brussels counterparts yesterday on how to give local politicians a greater say in the application of EU law in the region, addressing what unionists call the “democratic deficit”.
Senior DUP MP Sammy Wilson said the party had “heard nothing” from the Government on this “fundamental issue”.
“The progress made so far is very slim. The fundamental issues have not been addressed,” Wilson told Channel 4 News yesterday.
Wilson went further today, stating that he does not believe there will be a deal this week between the UK Government and the EU.
Wilson said that Northern Ireland remaining in the EU single market is also a non-runner for his party.
“If a deal is agreed which still keeps us in the EU single market, as ministers in the Northern Ireland Assembly we would be required by law to implement that deal and we are not going to do that because we believe such an arrangement is designed to take us out of the United Kingdom and indeed would take us out of the United Kingdom,” he told Sky News.
“Increasingly we would have to agree EU laws which diverge from UK laws and in doing so would separate our own country from the United Kingdom.
We are British and we expect to be governed by British law, not Brussels law. We would certainly not collaborate in administering Brussels law in our part of the United Kingdom.
According to a report in The Times, Sunak is willing to go ahead with a UK-EU accord even without the DUP’s support.
Referring to the DUP’s issues around the European Court of Justice, the newspaper quoted an unnamed British official as saying that it would be “unhelpful” to “set a bar that is not necessarily in the interests of those we are trying to negotiate for”.
If a deal is reached between the UK and the EU it is likely that Sunak would have sufficient votes in the House of Commons to approve as it is likely to have the backing of the Labour party and a sizeable number of his own Conservative MPs.
Earlier in the day, Conservative former minister Simon Clarke backed a call by Boris Johnson for ministers to press on with legislation enabling them to override parts of the Protocol.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman stressed the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which is currently stalled in the House of Lords, remains “important” in “the absence of a negotiated solution”.
The spokesman told reporters: “It’s clear that we need to find solutions that protect Northern Ireland’s place in our internal market, safeguard the Good Friday Agreement and resolves the practical issues that the protocol is causing for families and businesses.
“The Prime Minister has been clear that we have not resolved all of those issues and no deal has been done as yet.”
Meanwhile, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the Protocol Bill as “one of the biggest tools that we have in solving the problem on the Irish Sea”.
Braverman, a longstanding Eurosceptic, argued that Sunak is right to be “committed to finding a pragmatic solution to resolve these issues”.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Downing Street will remain “in close contact” with the DUP and other parties, but added: “It would be wrong to say there is a final deal.
“There’s intensive work to do with the EU, that work is ongoing.”
Downing Street declined to commit to a Commons vote, with the official spokesman only saying: “You will hear more from us should an agreement be reached with the EU that reaches the challenges the Prime Minister has set out.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer, speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Essex, said: “I think it should be put to a vote, and I’m very clear to the Prime Minister I will put the country first and the party second and he should do the same.”
Micheál Martin
The people of Northern Ireland voted, and they want their institutions restored. People had legitimate concerns around the operation of the Protocol. There has been a very sincere and substantial attempt to resolve those between the EU and UK. pic.twitter.com/RCeuGzO7hV
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) February 20, 2023
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin attended the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels today.
The meeting of EU foreign ministers was said to be dominated by the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but discussions on the Protocol are also likely to feature.
Speaking to reporters, he was asked about the issue of democratic consent and whether Brussels would countenance a deal that gave politicians in Northern Ireland more of a say in shaping the EU laws.
He said it was important that any agreement needed to have have mechanisms so that parties could have ongoing “inputs”.
“People want to make sure that this negotiated resolution between the EU and UK sustains into the future and so, within the joint committees there are mechanisms there that can be developed to facilitate inputs, to make sure that this agreement sustains into the future, and those concerns have been heard by all concerned.
Martin said there are “substantive” and “problem-solving” talks ongoing between the UK and EU.
The current phase is characterised by a much more problem-solving approach, substantive engagement to improve upon a protocol that was originally negotiated and upon which people in Northern Ireland had concerns about.
He added, that trust between the parties has improved in recent months:
“It’s the resolution of these concerns by negotiation of the subject matter and the process has been ongoing over the last three to four months. It’s clear to me that very, very good progress has been made and also that the nature of the engagement has been a genuine one, and trust has built up .”
- With reporting by Press Association and Jane Moore
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