EU to propose easing checks on British trade to N. Ireland

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will on Wednesday put to Britain a package of measures to ease the transit of goods to Northern Ireland but stop short of the overhaul London is demanding of post-Brexit trading rules for the province.

The EU executive’s measures are designed to ease customs controls, such as the clearance of meat, dairy and other food products and the flow of medicines to the British province https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-nireland-explainer-idINKBN2H21TH from the British mainland.

The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks required for British goods destined for Northern Ireland and staying there would be dropped if proper sharing of data and labelling was introduced, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Irish national broadcaster RTE, citing the proposals.

“This is about supermarket supply chains across all foodstuffs, which is the vast majority of checks required under the protocol (governing trade arrangements) and the paper (outlining the measures) will propose the removal of the vast majority of those checks,” Coveney said.

He also said the EU proposals would make it “crystal clear” that there would be no barriers to medicines coming in to Northern Ireland from the British mainland and that Brussels would in effect change EU law to solve this problem.

Customs controls would also be significantly reduced for goods that traders can show are staying in Northern Ireland, he added.

However, the executive Commission will not open up for renegotiation the protocol which governs Northern Ireland’s unique trading position, leaving Brussels and London on a potential collision course.

Maros Sefcovic, the Commission vice-president in charge of EU-UK relations, will present the plans to EU countries and to members of the European Parliament on Wednesday afternoon before a news conference scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).

The Commission will also set out plans to engage more with people in Northern Ireland.

Oliver Dowden, the co-chairman of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, said the British government would engage fully and constructively with the EU on the proposals, adding that the steps he had read about so far were “welcome”.

“We will look at them and engage properly with them,” he told Sky News, while also saying it was important there was “fundamental change” to the protocol.

‘IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO’

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told Newstalk radio station that the EU had listened to legitimate concerns about the protocol and was in “solution mode” and the British government had a responsibility to be in that mode too.

“It takes two to tango,” he said.

The proposals could enable supermarkets to supply Northern Irish stores with sausages and other chilled meat products from Britain that are banned from entry into the EU – and so, in theory, into Northern Ireland.

While remaining part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has stayed in the EU’s single market for goods, meaning its exports to the rest of the 27-nation bloc face no customs checks, tariffs or paperwork.

Sefcovic has said the arrangement allows Northern Irish businesses to enjoy the best of both worlds. However, the result is an effective customs border in the Irish Sea, disturbing trade from the rest of the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland and angering the province’s pro-British unionists.

Under the commission’s plans, British sausages, for example, would be allowed into Northern Ireland as long as they were solely intended for Northern Irish consumers.

“That’s our proposal. We will put it on the table. If… this is rejected, then indeed we have a problem,” Sefcovic said in comments last week.

British Brexit Minister David Frost said in a speech on Tuesday that London would be ready to discuss the proposals “whatever they say”, but also demanded a new “forward-looking” protocol, one without oversight from European judges.

The EU has said it cannot see how a body other than the EU’s top court could rule on the EU single market.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Sarah Young and Guy Faulconbridge in London, Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Nick Macfie, Toby Chopra and Timothy Heritage)

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will on Wednesday put to Britain a package of measures to ease the transit of goods to Northern Ireland but stop short of the overhaul London is demanding of post-Brexit trading rules for the province.

The EU executive’s measures are designed to ease customs controls, such as the clearance of meat, dairy and other food products and the flow of medicines to the British province https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-nireland-explainer-idINKBN2H21TH from the British mainland.

The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks required for British goods destined for Northern Ireland and staying there would be dropped if proper sharing of data and labelling was introduced, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Irish national broadcaster RTE, citing the proposals.

“This is about supermarket supply chains across all foodstuffs, which is the vast majority of checks required under the protocol (governing trade arrangements) and the paper (outlining the measures) will propose the removal of the vast majority of those checks,” Coveney said.

He also said the EU proposals would make it “crystal clear” that there would be no barriers to medicines coming in to Northern Ireland from the British mainland and that Brussels would in effect change EU law to solve this problem.

Customs controls would also be significantly reduced for goods that traders can show are staying in Northern Ireland, he added.

However, the executive Commission will not open up for renegotiation the protocol which governs Northern Ireland’s unique trading position, leaving Brussels and London on a potential collision course.

Maros Sefcovic, the Commission vice-president in charge of EU-UK relations, will present the plans to EU countries and to members of the European Parliament on Wednesday afternoon before a news conference scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).

The Commission will also set out plans to engage more with people in Northern Ireland.

Oliver Dowden, the co-chairman of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, said the British government would engage fully and constructively with the EU on the proposals, adding that the steps he had read about so far were “welcome”.

“We will look at them and engage properly with them,” he told Sky News, while also saying it was important there was “fundamental change” to the protocol.

‘IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO’

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told Newstalk radio station that the EU had listened to legitimate concerns about the protocol and was in “solution mode” and the British government had a responsibility to be in that mode too.

“It takes two to tango,” he said.

The proposals could enable supermarkets to supply Northern Irish stores with sausages and other chilled meat products from Britain that are banned from entry into the EU – and so, in theory, into Northern Ireland.

While remaining part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has stayed in the EU’s single market for goods, meaning its exports to the rest of the 27-nation bloc face no customs checks, tariffs or paperwork.

Sefcovic has said the arrangement allows Northern Irish businesses to enjoy the best of both worlds. However, the result is an effective customs border in the Irish Sea, disturbing trade from the rest of the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland and angering the province’s pro-British unionists.

Under the commission’s plans, British sausages, for example, would be allowed into Northern Ireland as long as they were solely intended for Northern Irish consumers.

“That’s our proposal. We will put it on the table. If… this is rejected, then indeed we have a problem,” Sefcovic said in comments last week.

British Brexit Minister David Frost said in a speech on Tuesday that London would be ready to discuss the proposals “whatever they say”, but also demanded a new “forward-looking” protocol, one without oversight from European judges.

The EU has said it cannot see how a body other than the EU’s top court could rule on the EU single market.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Sarah Young and Guy Faulconbridge in London, Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Nick Macfie, Toby Chopra and Timothy Heritage)