British foreign minister James Cleverly and Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris will be speaking to the European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic this week. The discussions are part of the efforts of both sides to find a solution to the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Cleverly and Heaton-Harris will be speaking with Sefcovic on Monday as part of the “intensive talks” to resolve the dispute over the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said the talks were part of the ongoing engagement with Brussels over the protocol, which also involved regular contact with parties in Northern Ireland.
“It’s clear we need to find solutions that protect Northern Ireland’s place in our internal market, safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, and resolve the practical issues the protocol is causing,” the spokesperson told reporters. “But the prime minister has been clear that we have not resolved all of those issues and no deal has been done as yet.”
During the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Sunak said that the UK and the EU have some understanding of how the outstanding issues can be resolved over the trade deal that was established when the UK left the bloc. Sunak also stressed that the UK wants to have a positive relationship with the bloc.
Sunak’s comments followed media speculation that a deal was reached over the protocol, which would avoid having a hard border between the region and EU member Ireland. Sunak also met with the leaders of Northern Ireland’s parties prior to attending the conference. During the meetings in Belfast, Sunak sought to assure them that there is progress in the negotiations to resolve the dispute.
The leader of Northern Ireland’s pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson, also said that there are still outstanding issues to address after his meeting with Sunak. Support of the DUP is important because of its long boycott of the region’s power-sharing parliament.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he was informed by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on the current status of the discussions ahead of her meeting with Sunak in Munich.