DUBLIN, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Britain and the EuropeanUnion are inching towards concluding talks on revisingpost-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and an agreement ispossible, but by no means guaranteed, in the coming days,Ireland’s prime minister said on Saturday.
Momentum has been building for weeks towards a deal to easechecks on trade that were introduced under the Northern IrelandProtocol – the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border withEU member Ireland when Britain exited the EU in 2020.
Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’sConservative party have been told to be in parliament on Monday,in a sign that a deal could be imminent.
“I think the talks on reforming the protocol are inchingtowards a conclusion. Certainly the deal isn’t done yet, but Ido think we are inching towards a conclusion,” Leo Varadkar toldreporters.
“There is the possibility of agreement in the next few daysbut by no means guaranteed … There’s still a gap to beclosed,” Varadkar said, adding there is ongoing engagementbetween the UK government and European Commission.
Varadkar, who played a key role when the protocol was agreedin 2019, encouraged London, Brussels and Northern Irishpoliticians “to go the extra mile” to help reach an agreement,saying the benefits would be “huge”.
While an agreement would mark an end to a two-yearstandoff between Britain and the EU, Sunak could face a battlewith pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers and pro-British NorthernIrish politicians to make the deal work.
Opinion polls have consistently shown a majority of NorthernIrish voters – who opposed Brexit – favour the idea of theprotocol, however the province’s assembly and power-sharinggovernment have not sat for a year due to unionist opposition.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the region’slargest pro-British party, has said it will not end its boycottof the assembly unless all checks on goods bound for NorthernIreland from Britain are removed.(Reporting by Padraic HalpinEditing by Mark Potter and Frances Kerry)
