As the UK attended its last European Council of Ministers on Tuesday 28 January, before it leaves the EU at midnight Brussels time on 31 January, the EU negotiator for the future relationship with the country, Michel Barnier, had reiterated the day before in Dublin that the EU "will not turn its back" on Northern Ireland and that this part of the UK could continue to "count" on the EU.
After meeting Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Dublin, Michel Barnier gave a speech on Monday evening at Queen's University in Belfast, in which he said that Irish citizens of Northern Ireland would continue to be EU residents with full rights as EU nationals, with no "discrimination" being tolerated. In the opposite direction, the Commission will also scrupulously ensure that the Twenty-Seven respect their obligations towards British nationals on their soil.
While the subject is sensitive across the Channel, Mr Barnier also insisted that there is a need for "checks" in the Irish Sea, i.e. between Great Britain and the territory of Northern Ireland. These checks on goods entering Northern Ireland will be "indispensable", the negotiator stressed.
In Brussels on Tuesday 28th, the UK Minister for Europe, Chris Pincher, came to Brussels for the last formal UK presence at a Council of Ministers, the General Affairs Council. He came to tell his colleagues that the UK and the EU will remain "allies, partners and friends", he wrote on his Twitter account. The meeting was devoted in particular to the 'Conference on the Future of Europe' (see other news). It is this same body - the General Affairs Council - which will be responsible for adopting the Commission's negotiating mandate on the future partnership at the end of February.
According to Politico, the negotiations with London could then begin in earnest on 3 March. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)