The EU is considering British requests for adjustments to the Northern Ireland Protocol (see EUROPE 12650/18) to extend, among other things, the flexibilities temporarily provided for in the control of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, but there will be no sweeping changes to the provisions of the protocol, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday 4 February, quoted by Reuters.
The minister was speaking after the British government’s official request to extend a grace period for the arrangements for goods controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, which should last three months for certain types of controls and which London has requested be extended until 2023.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Šefčovič, and the British Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, discussed the issue on Wednesday 3 February in the framework of the Joint Committee and agreed to continue discussions to find practical solutions that could address the British concerns.
Tensions have risen in ports where agents were inspecting products between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
“What is important is to continue working constructively to find a practical solution and respond to the challenges”, said the Commission on Thursday 4 February.
However, these British requests have not been very well received by the EU Member States and they could discuss them in the Committee of Permanent Representatives, perhaps as early as 5 February but more likely in about ten days from now, according to one source.
The EU27 said they have the feeling that London is using these incidents, like Ms von der Leyen’s blunder on 29 January on the control of vaccine exports, to call into question the fundamentals of this protocol which has always been controversial in the United Kingdom in that it keeps Northern Ireland on the territory of the European Single Market in the same way as the British market. For some, it is a bit too much.
“The British are trying to use a non-event (that of Article 16 for the export of vaccines) to avoid applying the withdrawal agreement”, according to one source.
The Commission is expected to, therefore, first draw up a precise inventory of the problems encountered in Northern Ireland and the responses that can be brought to them, but there is no question of accepting that the withdrawal agreement is not applied by the British, adds this source, judging London’s approach to be rather dishonest.
“The idea of grace periods was to allow time for adjustment, not to put permanent alternatives in place. Whether it is possible to extend some of those grace periods is, I think, under consideration”, said Simon Coveney.
“But I think we have to be realistic; there is not going to be dramatic change here. This is about looking at existing flexibilities, using them more effectively and taking a pragmatic approach within the confines of the protocol”, he said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)