EU, UK agree on working to solve issues on Northern Ireland protocol

On the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt this week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. Both leaders agreed on working to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol, a point of dispute between the bloc and the United Kingdom.

A spokesperson for Downing Street said Monday that Sunak and von der Leyen agreed to work to resolve issues on the Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade arrangement between the UK and the European Union. Both leaders met during the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

“The Prime Minister reiterated the need to find solutions to the very real problems (the protocol) had created on the ground in Northern Ireland,” said the spokesperson. “They agreed on the importance of working together to agree on a resolution.”

Last week, the Irish foreign minister said that it is possible that the UK and the bloc can resolve the long-running issue by the end of the year if both sides can compromise. Talks have previously resumed for the first time in seven months on the protocol, which would mandate checks on some goods that move to Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom because of its open border with EU-member Ireland.

“The EU has said on a number of occasions they would like to have these issues resolved by the end of the year and I think it’s possible to do that if there is a political appetite on both sides to make that happen,” said Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he was “encouraged” by the conversations he had with Sunak over the protocol.

“I am persuaded that he understands that we urgently need to find a way back to an agenda defined by growth and cooperation,” said Martin during a lecture at Oxford University, according to a transcript of his remarks released by his office.

The British Northern Ireland minister will be updating parliament Wednesday on ways to restore the region’s power-sharing government, according to Sunak’s spokesperson. The region is currently in a political deadlock when the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party started a boycott of the regional assembly in protest to the post-Brexit trade arrangements.