Truss urges ‘practical solutions’ on protocol
Foreign Secretary warns EU not to ‘re-run past arguments’ in Northern Ireland row as talks restart
LIZ TRUSS has urged the European Union to find “practical solutions” to resolve the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol rather than “re-running past arguments” ahead of a meeting with the bloc’s chief negotiator.
The Foreign Secretary will travel to Brussels tomorrow for talks with Maros Sefcovic, a European Commission vicepresident, in an attempt to break the deadlock in the dispute over Brexit trade rules in the province.
“Fundamentally, this is about peace and stability in Northern Ireland,” she said. “Whether you voted Leave or Remain, represent the UK or EU, the focus must be on protecting the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and fixing the protocol.
“That is my message in these negotiations. Rather than re-running past arguments, we need to focus on delivering for the people of Northern Ireland, finding practical solutions to problems on the ground and maintaining the integrity of the United Kingdom.”
This will be the second time the pair have met since Ms Truss took over as Brexit negotiator in December, after the shock resignation of Lord Frost.
The Foreign Secretary has already told Mr Sefcovic that she wants to find a swift solution to end the disruption caused by the protocol and reset wider UK-EU relations. She believes resolving the row will free up the UK and EU to work together on geopolitical challenges, such as Russia and China.
Ahead of the talks, at the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, Mr Sefcovic has expressed concerns that he believes Ms Truss could use their Brexit negotiations to further a potential Conservative leadership challenge.
“It’s a question of whether she wants to reaffirm her reputation as a dealmaker or if she goes down the road of maintaining the impasse,” he told MEPs, according to a source present at a private briefing in Brussels.
Mr Sefcovic believes holding off on a deal will improve Ms Truss’s image with hardline Brexiteers in the Tory party, who are convinced the Foreign Secretary will adopt a softer approach to dealing with the EU than her predecessor.
Before EU-UK relations can be reset, Mr Sefcovic will demand reassurances from Ms Truss that she will not renege on the terms of any deal on the province.
“We need to rebuild trust and this is done through respecting our agreements, which have only recently been signed and ratified,” an EU official said.
Under the protocol, Northern Ireland continues to follow some EU Single Market rules to prevent a hard Irish border, and British imports face checks to ensure they meet EU standards, which has created a trade border in the Irish Sea.
The UK argues that the trade checks are having a chilling effect on trade. In October, the EU offered to remove up to 80 per cent of the checks in return for bolstered market surveillance.
Talks to cut red tape resumed this week, without any significant breakthrough expected by officials on either side.
Officials close to the discussions said Britain’s negotiating position had not changed since Ms Truss took over from Lord Frost, who quit the Cabinet last month in anger over Covid measures.