Britain and the EU are preparing to avoid a diplomatic confrontation this week over post-Brexit trading arrangements on Northern Ireland, according to officials on both sides.
The sides are expected to agree a diplomatic finesse to avoid a September 15 legal deadline on grace periods becoming a flashpoint in the relationship, which has soured over the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol on trade.
There were fears last month that Liz Truss, UK prime minister, might immediately trigger the Article 16 safeguards clause in the protocol to maintain the grace periods, which allow for temporary lighter-touch implementation of the deal, but insiders in London and Brussels said these have now have been allayed.
Instead, the UK is expected to make a written request to the European Commission to extend the light-touch implementation, and Brussels is expected to give informal consent by not lodging any objection.
A similar diplomatic fudge was agreed in July 2021. London says the continuation of the grace periods is the bare minimum for businesses pending a fundamental renegotiation of the protocol.
EU officials said the “best scenario” would be for the UK to advise that it intended to continue with the grace periods without triggering the Article 16 safeguards clause. “That will allow us to continue muddling through,” said one.
Since Truss became prime minister last week, officials on both sides have indicated they want to create diplomatic space in order to try to reset talks over the protocol, which have been stalled since February.
In another sign that the two sides were stepping back from confrontation, Downing Street insiders said they did not consider the requirement to respond to EU legal action accusing the UK of failing to implement the protocol by September 15 to be a “hard deadline”. One said: “It may just be one of things where we just carry on.”
A second senior EU official said the commission would be open to extending the deadline. “We are used to this kind of delay with the UK,” they said.
However, they warned that passing threatened legislation that would unilaterally rip up the protocol would eject Northern Ireland from the single market. “I hope she [Truss] understands what the legal implication will be for Northern Ireland. Businesses would lose access to the single market. Exporters will be in legal limbo.”
Truss’s allies say there is still a big gap on trade between the two sides; the prime minister wants to end the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction in Northern Ireland and stop all checks on goods going from Great Britain if they are not destined to stay in the region.
Comments by Maroš Šefčovič, EU vice-president, to the Financial Times about reducing the number of border checks at Northern Ireland ports were seen by Truss’s allies as “essentially proposals they’ve put forward before”.
However, the new prime minister does not want a confrontation with Brussels over Brexit ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral on Monday, which is expected to be attended by world leaders including US president Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, president of France.
Biden told Truss in a phone call last week that it was important to reach “a negotiated agreement with the EU on the Northern Ireland protocol”, and suggested she should drop unilateral legislation to scrap it.
Truss, who is expected to travel to New York after the state funeral to attend the UN General Assembly may meet Biden again in the US, where the Northern Ireland situation is likely to be raised.
Source: Economy - ft.com
