European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said on Monday 24 January that if “political goodwill” was maintained between the European Commission and the UK, “sustainable” solutions to ease the lives of Northern Ireland’s residents and businesses could be found “quickly”.
The Vice-President met the same day with his British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, after a week of technical negotiations. The two officials will review the situation again at the end of next week after further technical sessions. While the Vice-President did not announce a breakthrough on Monday 24 January, he reiterated in a joint statement with Liz Truss that this second meeting had taken place “in a constructive atmosphere” and “with the aim of moving the talks forward”.
The Vice-President did not set a deadline for completion, but emphasised his desire to work with “a sense of urgency” and that he will do his “best” to build a positive relationship with London.
The British Foreign Secretary took the same position in a statement issued after the meeting. The two sides had made progress by the end of 2021 on resolving the problems of exporting medicines from Britain to Northern Ireland, but had yet to agree on proposed administrative easing for goods and plant health and sanitary controls, with the European Commission’s concern being to maintain the integrity of the single market at the same time. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)