The UK and European Union pledged to continue working toward a post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, but stopped short of formally announcing an intense final phase of negotiations.
(Bloomberg) — The UK and European Union pledged to continue working toward a post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, but stopped short of formally announcing an intense final phase of negotiations.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said in a joint statement Monday that they need to find “solutions together to tackle comprehensively the real-life concerns of all communities in Northern Ireland and protect both Northern Ireland’s place in the UK’s internal market and the integrity of the EU’s Single Market.”
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They “agreed that this scoping work for potential solutions should continue in a constructive and collaborative spirit, taking careful account of each other’s legitimate interests,” according to the statement issued Monday after the two politicians held a video conference to discuss progress.
An agreement would resolve a drawn-out dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the wider UK-EU Brexit deal. The protocol was drawn up to avoid a land border on the island of Ireland, effectively placing a frontier in the Irish Sea and allowing Northern Ireland to remain in the EU single market.
Expectations of further progress have been building since last week when the EU agreed to use a real-time UK database tracking goods moving over the Irish sea border — a development which lays the groundwork for a broader customs deal. Today’s statement suggests the talks are proceeding in a positive atmosphere. But its cautious language suggests both sides are trying to manage expectations in public, even if they are privately optimistic.
The two sides want to reach a settlement — or a significant outline of one — by the end of next month, ahead of the April anniversary of the 1998 Belfast peace agreement.
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Any deal could also end a political standoff that’s prevented Northern Ireland’s forming a devolved administration in the face of ongoing objections to the protocol by unionists.
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