The British government resumes negotiations with the European Union (EU) on the status of Northern Ireland after Brexit on Thursday, urging Brussels to “pragmatism” after months of lockdown.
In charge of this explosive matter since the resignation of negotiator David Frost in December, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liz Truss, receives this afternoon and until Friday (14) the Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, at Chevening Castle. , the residence of the heads of British diplomacy on the outskirts of London.
Its aim is to prevent a trade war between London and Brussels a year after the divorce took effect, while preserving the fragile peace in Northern Ireland.
The British want to deeply renegotiate the protocol for the region, which both sides signed in the context of leaving the EU. But Brussels refuses and only agrees to adjustments.
In force since the beginning of 2021, the agreement keeps Northern Ireland in the European single market and in the customs union, in order to avoid a border with the neighboring Republic of Ireland, an EU member country.
The aim is to preserve the fragile peace that, in 1998, ended three decades of bloody conflict between Catholic Republicans and Protestant unionists, leaving some 3,500 dead.
But in return, controls and obstacles are imposed on goods arriving in the British region from the rest of the UK, infuriating Northern Irish unionists, who are very attached to the British crown.
In a statement ahead of the meeting, Truss called for “a pragmatic approach from the EU” and assured that it would propose “practical and reasonable solutions”.
But in an article published by the Telegraph newspaper, it drew its red lines: no control of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland and the exclusion of the EU Court of Justice from arbitration from the protocol.
And he warned that if negotiations fail, London will not hesitate to activate a clause allowing certain provisions to be suspended unilaterally, which could lead to serious trade retaliation from the EU.
The European Commission insisted, through its spokesman Daniel Ferrie, on finding “long-term solutions” to “guarantee the stability (…) of the people of Northern Ireland”.
The EU Executive proposed in October a significant reduction in controls on a wide range of goods intended exclusively for consumption in Northern Ireland and not entering the EU market. London found it insufficient.
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