New tone in the discussions.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Brussels, Berlin The EU and UK negotiators are expected to work like a laser beam in the coming week. It should only be about drugs and customs formalities, said Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Friday after a meeting with Brexit Minister David Frost. There are specific proposals for these questions, and compromises seem possible. The mood is also good: he is happy about the new tone in the discussion, said Sefcovic.
Indeed, these issues make it possible to leave the big issues behind for a while and to cool down the heated mood. In the past few weeks the British have been toying with the idea of officially no longer complying with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which regulates how goods move between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
To do this, the government would rely on Article 16 of the Protocol, which allows “protective measures” when serious problems arise. It would then let goods into Northern Ireland without any controls and thus into the EU internal market.
Frost said on Wednesday that Article 16 was “the only option” if no agreement was reached. British negotiating circles said the government in London would not hesitate to go to extremes.
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“We want a negotiated solution, Article 16 remains a political option for us,” said a British negotiator. The EU has made encouraging proposals to resolve the conflict. However, they were not enough.
Provocation instead of negotiation
According to London, the conditions for suspending the Northern Ireland Protocol under Article 16 have long been met. “There are already the serious economic, social or environmental difficulties mentioned in the protocol,” said the British with a view to the stagnant movement of goods between Great Britain and the Northern Irish province.
Reference is also made to the resurgence of violence in Northern Ireland. A bus was recently ambushed and set on fire by masked men in Belfast. In addition, the police were attacked by demonstrators against the Northern Ireland Protocol with fireworks.
From the EU’s point of view, protective measures would be pure provocation. From Brussels’ point of view, it is not the protocol that causes problems, but the fact that the British are not implementing it properly. The EU is calling for a digital registration system for goods that is still not working.
And it demands information on where the goods that come across the Irish Sea are being transported. On this basis, one could make better risk analyzes and dispense with many controls.
The EU does not actually want to introduce controls on the border with Northern Ireland, but it could feel compelled to do so.
(Photo: REUTERS)
The fact that Great Britain is not participating is seen in Brussels as an indication that the threats are exclusively motivated by domestic politics. The British government has badly managed the corona crisis, faces allegations of corruption and has to watch as trade suffers from the exit from the EU. Any form of distraction comes in handy.
A fundamental question that is non-negotiable on both sides
In negotiations with the EU, she can freely bring up the most difficult issue to resolve. And it’s not about how trading works in practice. The British have dogged themselves in a fundamental question: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) should not have the last word on disputes between the EU and Great Britain. But that’s how it is stipulated and classified as non-negotiable by the EU. “Nothing has changed on the EU side,” said Sefcovic in London.
As long as both sides are in talks, the British are less likely to resort to Article 16. The EU does not have to initiate any countermeasures until then. As a precaution, the EU member states have asked Sefcovic to prepare “robust” responses.
The Commission does not comment on what that can be. But it is unlikely to be able to stop at legal measures such as infringement proceedings. Customs duties on UK goods such as fish are more likely.
It is entirely possible that the dispute will develop into a real trade dispute. Then not only would the companies on both sides suffer, border controls on the Irish-Northern Irish border would also be inevitable. That is what the EU would like to prevent, so as not to jeopardize the peace there any further.
More: Concession to London: EU Commission wants to abolish 80 percent of controls on the Northern Ireland border.