EU and UK leaders to discuss Northern Ireland protocol

The president of the EU Commission, von der Leyen, announced that they will meet tomorrow with Sunak in England. Von der Leyen claimed that they decided to work face to face to resolve complex issues over Ireland and the Northern Ireland Protocol.

British officials have been making statements in recent days that they are close to reaching an agreement with the EU on the protocol.

British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told the BBC: “We are close to reaching an agreement. We have come a long way, but we are not yet in agreement,” he said.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also said in his statement the day before that a new deal on Northern Ireland was coming to an end and the deal could be announced in a few days.

NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL

The Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of the Brexit deal, regulates trade between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the EU.

According to the protocol, despite Brexit, Northern Ireland remains subject to the rules of the EU customs union. Trade with the rest of the UK is subject to customs at Northern Ireland ports.

Under the Belfast Agreement (Good Friday Agreement), which ended the war between Catholic separatists and Protestants in favor of union with England, no physical land border can be created where checks can be carried out. Therefore, although it was decided to carry out the controls only at sea, there are problems in their implementation.

Britain wants the protocol extensively changed, which it argues threatens the country’s territorial integrity. The EU, on the other hand, does not take this kindly. (AA)