Photographer: Paul Faith / Bloomberg
Photographer: Paul Faith / Bloomberg
The United Kingdom and the European Union remain closed on how to implement the Brexit agreement in Northern Ireland, despite more than three hours of talks between senior officials on Thursday.
Cabinet Minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic held a rare face-to-face meeting in London, which their teams described as “sincere but constructive”.
But they have not resolved the key trade disagreements that have soured the UK-EU relationship in the six weeks since Brexit ended.
Gove and Sefcovic have promised to “step up” their work “with the common goal of finding viable solutions on the ground”, according to a joint statement released after Thursday’s talks.
Since the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, tensions have erupted between the two sides over a number of issues, including trade in financial services, the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and the flow of goods between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. North.
The part of the United Kingdom’s exit agreement covering Northern Ireland effectively maintained the region in the EU customs union and in the single market and imposed controls on goods crossing the Irish Sea from the UK.
These checks are politically detestable to some in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, as well as to Northern Irish politicians who are passionate supporters of keeping the region in close union with the rest of the UK. The new arrangements also led to the disruption of Ireland’s trade, with empty store shelves, as the flow of supplies dried up.
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Gove and Sefcovic have agreed to meet again until February 24 to resolve the difficulties. Until then, British and European officials will hear from companies in Northern Ireland who have complained about the disruption of goods flowing from mainland Britain since the UK left the EU trade regime on 31 December.
In their meeting, the two men reiterated their commitment to both the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland and the “proper implementation” of the Brexit agreement. They said they “will make no effort to implement mutually agreed solutions” last year, according to the joint statement.
On 29 January, the European Commission briefly threatened to launch an emergency clause in the Brexit divorce agreement to reduce vaccine exports to Northern Ireland. This dramatically escalated tensions between the two sides.
Prior to the meeting, Gove said the Northern Irish part of the Brexit deal was not working and called for a reset of the EU’s relationship with Britain. This was rejected by the EU, which said Britain must honor the promises it made to Northern Ireland as part of the Brexit deal.
(Updates with details and context)