The Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Affairs, Maroš Šefčovič, arrived in London late Thursday afternoon, 11 February, to meet the British Minister Michael Gove in the framework of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and the Northern Ireland protocol.
In particular, the two men had to reconsider the British request to relax the provisions of the protocol to ease the pressure on Northern Irish and British exporters.
This request was not necessarily well received by EU Member States, who see it as a potential attempt to unravel the withdrawal agreement, but which London justifies by the great anxiety created by the Article 16 episode and the export of vaccines. Economic data is also poor at the moment in the UK, with exporters whose activity is reduced because of the new trading relationship.
On the evening of 10 February, the Vice-President had made public a letter addressed to his counterpart in advance of this visit. The outcome of this visit was not known at the time of going to press. In this letter, the Vice-President recalls that the protocol was the unique solution agreed by both sides to preserve peace on the island of Ireland and the economic specificity of the island and that it remains the only one capable of responding to the extraordinary challenges caused by the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU.
Promising to do his utmost to ensure that the protocol is applied in the best possible way, the Vice-President also notes in his letter shortcomings on the British side, such as the fact that controls on goods are not fully applied, apart from controls on live animals. Nor does the Union have full access to information systems for these controls, although this was agreed upon in a decision last December.
The Vice-President explained in general terms that the EU cannot go beyond the flexibilities provided for in this protocol. This response “disappointed” the British government, said a spokesman quoted by AFP.
For Michel Barnier, no renegotiation possible
For the EU negotiator on the future relationship, Michel Barnier, the agreement is well and truly over, “the negotiation is over, there will be no new negotiations on the agreement and on trade”, he commented on 11 February at a public event.
“We are open to finding technical, operational solutions, open to facilitating exchanges, but we must respect the rules”, said the former negotiator. “And a key point for us is to control all products entering the single market”, and these “controls must be done”.
Mr Barnier also pointed out at the event that the EU already had doubts about certain practices by British companies using fake mailboxes in Northern Ireland to secure a gateway to the single market.
Link to the letter: https://bit.ly/3q6NShz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)