DUBLIN, Feb 25 (Portal) – Britain and the European Union are nearing the conclusion of talks on revising the post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and an agreement is possible in the coming days but by no means guaranteed, the Irish Prime Minister has said further Saturday.
For weeks, momentum has been building towards an agreement to ease the trade controls introduced under the Northern Ireland Protocol – the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain leaves the EU in 2020 left the EU.
MPs from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party have been told to sit in Parliament on Monday in a sign that a deal could be imminent.
“I think talks about reforming the protocol are nearing completion. Certainly the deal isn’t finalized yet, but I think we’re nearing closure,” Leo Varadkar told reporters.
“There is a possibility of an agreement in the next few days but by no means guaranteed… There is still a gap to be filled,” Varadkar said, adding that there was ongoing engagement between the UK government and the European Commission.
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Varadkar, who played a key role in agreeing the protocol in 2019, encouraged politicians in London, Brussels and Northern Ireland to “go the extra mile” to help reach a deal and said the benefits were “huge”.
While a deal would spell the end of a two-year standoff between Britain and the EU, Sunak could face a battle with pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers and pro-British Northern Ireland politicians to get the deal working.
Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Northern Ireland voters – who opposed Brexit – support the idea of the protocol, but the Assembly and the province’s power-sharing government have not met for a year due to union opposition.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the region’s largest pro-British party, has said it will not end its boycott of the assembly unless all controls on goods bound for Northern Ireland from Britain are lifted.
Reporting by Padraic Halpin Edited by Mark Potter and Frances Kerry
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