Earlier, the UK had called for “intensive talks” with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol after both sides offered their own proposals to amend it….reports Asian Lite News
Ireland’s European Affairs Minister said the European Union will not accept Britain’s demands for an alternative arbitrator to settle post-Brexit trade disputes involving Northern Ireland Protocol after both sides offered their own proposals to amend it.
The EU had on Wednesday put forward a raft of proposals, including reduced customs checks and paperwork on British products intended for Northern Ireland.
When asked by Britain’s Times Radio if the EU would consider an alternative arbitration system, Ireland’s European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne said: “No, I don’t think so.”
“It is not a question of the European Court of Justice having any sovereignty over Britain or any part of Britain … It is simply the fact that the European Court of Justice arbitrates on the single market of the European Union, in which Northern Ireland has been allowed to remain,” reports, quoted Byrne as saying.
Earlier, the UK had called for “intensive talks” with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol after both sides offered their own proposals to amend it.
In its proposal package published earlier Wednesday, the EU proposed a type of “express lane” to facilitate the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, including cutting customs formalities and simplified certification and an 80 per cent reduction of the checks for more retail goods for the Northern Ireland’s consumers, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The EU have now published their proposals in response to those in our Command Paper. We are studying the detail and will of course look at them seriously and constructively,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday.
“The next step should be intensive talks on both our sets of proposals, rapidly conducted, to determine whether there is common ground to find a solution,” the spokesperson said.
The EU proposals came in response to a new legal text put forward by the UK’s Brexit Minister David Frost on Tuesday.
Frost said the protocol is the biggest source of mistrust between the UK and the EU and demands “significant change”.
Northern Ireland is at the centre of the post-Brexit trade dispute between Britain and the EU.
As part of the Brexit deal, the Protocol stipulates that Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market and customs union to avoid a hard border between the region and the Republic of Ireland.
However, this leads to a new “regulatory” border between Britain and Northern Ireland.
For months, the UK has complained the rigid operation of the protocol, part of the Brexit deal, is unacceptable because it has severely disrupted trade, affected consumers and contributed to political instability.
