A silver lining to resolve disputes Northern Ireland After the fourth week of negotiations on Friday, arrangements for Brexit have emerged.
After a week of accusations and The threat of a trade warThe Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič said that the tone of Brexit Secretary David Frost has changed, confirming that the UK has retreated from the brink of triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
He confirmed that the talks will last for the fifth week, but said that significant progress still needs to be made and that the red line of the British in the European Court of Justice is still an obstacle.
“I admit and welcome David Frost Today, I hope this will bring tangible results to the people of Northern Ireland,” he told reporters at a press conference in London after the talks.
In a statement, Lord Frost’s office stated that “there are still major gaps to be bridged” and the threat of Article 16 is still on the table. But it pointed out that Frost’s preference is to “find a mutually agreed way forward.”
In a press conference, Shevcovic told reporters that the people of Northern Ireland deserve a politician’s solution. “That’s why I forcefully stated that we need to make significant progress next week,” he said.
“This is particularly important for the drug issue. The uninterrupted long-term supply of drugs from the UK to Northern Ireland is an agreement-related issue that everyone in Northern Ireland thinks of.”
However, he added: “On the European court, absolutely nothing has changed on our side.”
A spokesman for the British government stated that “the talks have been conducted in a constructive spirit so far” and “emphasized that to make progress, new energy and impetus must be injected into the discussion.”
The spokesperson said: “Therefore, next week there will be intensive talks between the teams in Brussels on all issues, with special attention to medicines and customs issues.”
After a week of fringe policies, including threats to trigger Article 16 and retaliatory trade wars, Shevcovic seems to be more optimistic about the possibility of reconciliation. He also revealed that member states authorized him to “find a solution.”
He said that the possibility of reaching an agreement on the removal of drug supply barriers is “a low-hanging fruit” and may “create momentum for negotiations.”
Earlier on Friday, Boris Johnson’s former special counsel Dominique Cummings stated that the prime minister’s ” Brexit He signed the withdrawal agreement in January 2020 and questioned what it means to leave the EU Customs Union at a meeting with Frost 10 months later.
“Until October 2020 [Boris Johnson] Even vaguely aware of what a customs union is,” Cummings TweetThis is a reference to a key part of the Brexit agreement, through which the UK will completely break with the EU outside the single market and its special tariff club.
He wrote that when Frost explained, the prime minister’s “face is priceless.”
“I will never forget the look on his face after listening to Frost’s speech at the final stage of the meeting. [trade deal] During the negotiation, he said, “No, no, cold, fuck this, what will happen to the deal?” Frost looked at his newspaper and said that this is what happens in the trade, the prime minister, and this is what it means to leave the customs union. . “
With the European Union and the United Kingdom seeming to retreat from the brink of a trade war, Shevcovic said that he and Frost agreed that next week “we should be like laser beams” focusing on issues related to medicines and customs.
“I have done many such negotiations, and my experience tells me that if you want to be successful at the end of the negotiation, we need to take stock of what the problems are, and we should try to solve them one by one,” he said. “We should take the problem off the table instead of bringing new problems to an already very complex problem.”
