The UK and European Union have kicked off negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol, a pivotal part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. EU officials traveled to London for talks this week, while British government minister Lord Frost is expected to visit Brussels on Friday. This week's flurry of activity could be followed by weeks of negotiations, with both sides hoping to clinch a deal by the end of the year.
An alternative model
In a press conference on Wednesday, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic unveiled a series of proposals designed to ease the flow of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
"In effect, we are proposing an alternative model for the implementation of the protocol. On the one hand, the flow of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be facilitated for goods that are to stay in Northern Ireland. On the other, robust safeguards and monitoring mechanisms should be put in place to make sure they stay in Northern Ireland," said Sefcovic on Wednesday.
Customs checks at the Port of Larne in Northern Ireland. /Reuters
Among other measures, the European Commission is offering to cut customs paperwork for goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in half. It is also proposing to reduce the number of official checks for a wide range of retail products such as sausages, which have become a symbol of the dispute in the British press.
New protocol
However, while a British government spokesperson said the commission's proposals would be looked at "seriously and constructively," they may not be enough to break the deadlock.
The leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said the EU's proposals fall "well short of what we need" after a virtual meeting with the Commission's Sefcovic on Thursday.
In a speech in Lisbon earlier this week, British government minister Lord Frost also called for "significant changes" and a "new protocol."
British government minister Lord Frost, who was the UK's chief Brexit negotiator. / REUTERS
"The protocol is not working. It has completely lost consent in one community in Northern Ireland. It is not doing the thing it was set up to do – protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. In fact it is doing the opposite. It has to change," said Lord Frost, who was previously the UK's chief Brexit negotiator.
After the EU's proposals were revealed, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin encouraged the UK to be open to the new measures, telling a local radio station that "it takes two to tango."
While European powers such as France and Germany ultimately want to protect the EU's single market, the Irish government is keen to avoid any escalation in the dispute between London and Brussels.
Avoiding a hard border
The Northern Ireland Protocol was the solution to one of the thorniest issues in the Brexit negotiations: how to govern trade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
Both sides wanted to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, which saw decades of conflict and unrest. While tensions remain to this day, the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 drastically improved the situation. After the Brexit referendum in 2016, there were fears that a hard border would reignite tensions.
After months of negotiations, the EU and UK worked out the Northern Ireland Protocol as part of the overall Withdrawal Agreement. Northern Ireland would keep certain EU rules in areas such as food standards, allowing goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland (and therefore the EU single market) without border checks. This effectively created a customs border in the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.