Michael Gove to hold crunch Northern Ireland meeting with EU today
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove will meet with his EU counterpart today in a crunch meeting to discuss post-Brexit problems at the Northern Ireland border.
European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, who is the Brussels’ key representative to the UK-EU Joint Committee, said last week he wanted all issues with the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement solved at tomorrow’s meeting.
He also told Ireland’s parliament that the European Commission wants to set up a “clearing house” to instantly address any issues that pop up in Northern Ireland.
Tensions have escalated in Northern Ireland since the EU’s quickly overturned decision to activate article 16 in the Northern Ireland protocol, which would have created border checks on the island of Ireland and violated the Good Friday Peace Agreement.
The move happened amid a vaccines dispute between the UK and EU.
Companies in Northern Ireland have also had problems navigating the new post-Brexit rules, which sees an effective border in the Irish Sea.
Northern Ireland still follows EU single market and customs union rules, while the rest of the UK does not, meaning that there are checks and red tape on some goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
This has infuriated Northern ireland unionists who are concerned that they are being cut off from the rest of the UK.
Gove has asked the EU to not impose any new border checks on goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland until 2023 in order for businesses to better prepare for the implementation of the new rules.
Paul Everitt, chief executive at aerospace and defence industries lobby ADS Group, told a Westminster committee yesterday that companies in his sector were finding the new rules tough to work with.
“Shipping goods from [Great Britain] to Northern Ireland is a problem in terms of transport, but also companies operating in Northern Ireland are being faced with new tariffs associated with what are termed ‘goods at risk’,” he said.
“If they wish to avoid those tariffs they have to put in place quite difficult and complex mitigating measures, which particularly for the smaller businesses operating in Northern Ireland that is very new territory.”
When asked about tomorrow’s meeting, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “[Gove] and European Commission vice president Šefčovič agreed to intensify work to address all outstanding issues, with the shared objective to find workable solutions on the ground, to engage further with Northern Ireland businesses and civil society as part of this work.
“They are convening a Joint Committee meeting to provide political leadership and approval of this work.”