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EU proposes solution to ensure medicine supply to NI

Maros Sefcovic, Vice-president of the European Commission and co-chair of the EU-UK Joint Committee and Partnership Council.

The European Commission’s proposals still need to be sent to the European Parliament and the Council for examination and endorsement, reports Asian Lite News

The European Commission put forward proposals to ensure timely supply of medicines to Northern Ireland (NI) from the rest of the UK, announced officials.

“The Commission is today proposing a bespoke arrangement for the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland. It means that everyone in Northern Ireland will have access to the same medicines at the same time as elsewhere in the UK, while ensuring that the integrity of the EU Single Market is protected,” said Maros Sefcovic, Vice-president of the European Commission and co-chair of the EU-UK Joint Committee and Partnership Council.

Not only generic medicines, such as paracetamol, but also life-saving medicines such as cancer treatment, are included, Xinhua news agency quoted Sefcovic as saying at a press conference.

In line with the proposals, if a new medicine has been authorised in the UK, but not yet in the EU, it will be temporarily supplied to patients in Northern Ireland pending authorisation in the EU, European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides told the same press conference.

Those temporary authorizations should be time-limited and end as soon as the Commission has granted the authorisation to market the medicine, she added.

The European Commission’s proposals still need to be sent to the European Parliament and the Council for examination and endorsement.

The UK’s departure from the EU, also called Brexit, led to a complicated situation on the Island of Ireland. To avoid a hard border on the island, the UK’s Northern Ireland was integrated into the EU Single Market, under the Protocol of Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Goods leaving Great Britain to enter Northern Ireland, including medicine, are subjected to the EU Single Market’s custom duties and inspections, creating delays and effectively cutting out supplies in Northern Ireland.

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UK made ‘limited progress’ with EU on medicine supply to NI

David Frost meets with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels

David Frost said he and Maros Sefcovic will talk twice to steer the process, in the hope of making worthwhile progress towards agreed solutions before Christmas, reports Asian Lite News

British Brexit Minister David Frost said that the UK and the European Union (EU) have made limited progress on the post-Brexit supply of medicines to Northern Ireland.

Frost had a video call with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Friday to wrap up this week’s talks about the Northern Ireland Protocol, reports Xinhua news agency.

“We have made further limited progress on medicines but we have not reached agreement,” Frost tweeted after the meeting.

“I underlined the need for movement on all the difficult issues created by the (Northern Ireland) Protocol, including customs, agrifood rules, subsidy policy, VAT/excise, & governance including the Court of Justice,” he added.

He confirmed intensive talks will continue in the coming week.

Frost said he and Sefcovic will talk twice to steer the process, in the hope of making worthwhile progress towards agreed solutions before Christmas.

As part of the Brexit deal, the Northern Ireland Protocol stipulates that Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market and customs union to avoid a hard border between the region and the Republic of Ireland.

However, this leads to a new “regulatory” border between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Britain and the EU view changing the protocol as a long-term solution to post-Brexit trade disruption in Northern Ireland.

Britain outlined its proposals in a government paper in July, which observers interpreted as an intention to renegotiate the protocol.

In response, the EU published its own package to facilitate the movement of goods from Britain to Northern Ireland, including cutting customs formalities, simplified certification, and an 80 per cent reduction of checks on retail goods for Northern Ireland’s consumers.

It said it would guarantee an uninterrupted supply of medicine to the people of Northern Ireland, by changing EU rules.

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Fishing row: Fishermen to block ports

If the fishermen’s demands were ignored, they will turn this “warning shot” into other types of action, the committee warned the UK government…reports Asian Lite News.

French fishermen will on Friday block three ports and the Channel Tunnel to stop exports to the UK and demand that London accelerate the delivery of fishing licenses, the National Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Aquaculture (CRPMEM) in Paris said.

The committee said that the aim of the action is to defend the fishermen’s “just and legitimate demands” and to prevent the UK from obstructing future negotiations, reports Xinhua news agency.

The CRPMEM said it regretted that despite months of negotiations, London and Jersey still refuse to issue the fishing licenses legitimately expected by French professionals under the trade and cooperation agreement concluded between the UK and the European Union (EU) on December 24, 2020.

“The situation has become untenable for our fishermen, whom the current uncertainty places in a very fragile position,” it stressed.

According to the committee, Friday’s action is meant to be “symbolic and non-violent”.

If the fishermen’s demands were ignored, they will turn this “warning shot” into other types of action, the committee warned the UK government.

“We don’t want handouts, we just want our licenses back. The UK must abide by the post-Brexit deal,” Gerard Romiti, president of the CRPMEM, was quoted by local media as saying.

Brexit has deprived several French fishermen of the right to operate in UK territorial waters.

The UK has agreed to grant fishing licenses to boats that can prove past fishing activity in its waters, but too few such licenses have been delivered, according to the French fishermen.

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UK ‘remains prepared’ to suspend NI Protocol

David Frost meets with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels

Brexit minister David Frost said if there is no other solutions, the UK remains prepared to use the safeguard provisions under Article 16, which are a legitimate recourse under the Protocol, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

UK’s Brexit minister David Frost said on Friday that the UK government remains prepared to trigger the article in the withdrawal agreement that allows London and Brussels to temporarily abandon commitments, if current controversy over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol is not solved.

“If no such solution can be found, we remain prepared to use the safeguard provisions under Article 16, which are a legitimate recourse under the Protocol in order for the Government to meet its responsibilities to the people of Northern Ireland,” Frost said in a statement issued after his meeting with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels.

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson along with Sir David Frost. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

As part of the Brexit agreement that came into force in January, there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but under the protocol all goods and animal-based products coming from the rest of the British territories must be checked upon arrival to see if they comply with EU sanitary regulations.

The UK government has argued that the protocol is not working, as it causes delays and interruptions to goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and irritates loyalists of the British crown who believe their place within the union could be affected.

In October, the EU offered to cut checks on food, plants and animal products by 80% and paperwork for transport companies by half, but London is pushing for renegotiating the whole protocol.

According to Frost, talks this week between the UK and the EU focused on medicines, customs and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, “though other subjects have also been considered.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with David Frost, Ursula von Der Leyen and Michel Barnier after their dinner at the European Commission in Brussels in December last year. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

The UK minister also confirmed that “significant gaps” remain across must issues, and stressed that a “durable solution” requires goods to be able to move freely into Northern Ireland when both sides agree that they are remaining in Northern Ireland.

“Looking forward, the United Kingdom’s preference remains to secure a solution based on consensus. But any such solution must constitute a significant change from the current situation, materially ease practical problems on the ground, and safeguard political, economic and societal stability in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Earlier, Frost said that the UK and the EU are likely to reach a deal on changes to the disputed Northern Ireland Protocol by Christmas.

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UK threatens checks on EU fishing boats

The United Kingdom threatened on Friday to launch dispute settlement proceedings, and checks on EU fishing activity in its territorial waters, if France implements sanctions against Britain on November 2.

A British government spokesperson made the announcement after the country’s Brexit Minister David Frost met with European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in London. As well as the fishing dispute between Britain and France, the pair held talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The spokesperson explained that Frost had laid out Britain’s concerns about the “unjustified measures” announced by France earlier this week. These include fears that the measures will disrupt British fisheries and other trade, threaten energy supplies, and block further cooperation between Britain and the EU, Xinhua news agency reported.

Post-Brexit access to British waters has prompted tension between Britain and France. France seized a British trawler and gave a warning to another boat on Thursday morning, following threats of retaliatory measures against Britain’s fishing industry and other trade.

Although Britain-EU talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol have been constructive for the second week running, substantial differences remain between the two parties, the spokesperson said, adding, “The EU’s proposals represent a welcome step forward but do not free up goods movements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the extent necessary for a durable solution.”

The two parties will meet again in Brussels next week.

fishing

Britain and the EU view changing the protocol as a long-term solution to post-Brexit trade disruption in Northern Ireland. Britain outlined its proposals in a government paper in July, which observers interpreted as a renegotiation of the protocol.

In response, the EU published its own package to facilitate the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, including cutting customs formalities, simplified certification, and an 80 percent reduction of checks on retail goods for Northern Ireland’s consumers.

It said it would guarantee an uninterrupted supply of medicine to the people of Northern Ireland, by changing EU rules.

However, the two sides remain poles apart on the more challenging issue of the oversight role of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.

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UK demands end to ECJ role in Brexit talks

After adopting the Protocol as part of its drawn-out divorce from the EU, Britain now says the agreement is no longer working in Northern Ireland’s interests…reports Asian Lite News.

Britain on Monday shot down reports that it might compromise on a future role for the EU’s top court in policing a contentious trade pact for Northern Ireland.

Ahead of a new round of talks on the vexed Northern Ireland Protocol starting Tuesday, Brexit minister David Frost said the UK was adamant in wanting to end the oversight role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

“We have to put in place arbitration arrangements that are balanced. We can’t have the courts of one of the parties settling disputes between us,” he told a committee of MPs.

“We’re not interested in arrangements which keep the court in by some other name, at one remove or in some other way,” Frost added.

“The most important principle is one of equality.”

After adopting the Protocol as part of its drawn-out divorce from the EU, Britain now says the agreement is no longer working in Northern Ireland’s interests.

It has taken particular issue with provisions allowing the ECJ the ultimate say in whether it is abiding with the terms, which are designed to prevent UK goods entering the EU single market via Ireland.

In the buildup to the latest talks in London, The Times and Financial Times newspapers have reported that Britain could settle for a Swiss-style arbitration panel with the EU that retains some ECJ involvement.

The EU says the ECJ must remain the final arbiter of its single market, but has offered compromise proposals as London threatens to abandon the Protocol altogether.

ECJ (Wikipedia)

The proposals include reduced customs checks and paperwork on British products intended for Northern Ireland, which pro-UK loyalists complain are driving a wedge between Belfast and London and building momentum for the republican push for a united Ireland.

Frost reiterated that a new agreement was needed in the coming weeks to avert UK threats of invoking Article 16 of the Protocol, which allows either side to suspend its application.

“Obviously if we conclude that it can’t be bridged in the real world, then we’re in a different situation,” he said, while stressing “we are trying everything, and exploring every avenue”.

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EU offers border ‘express lane’ to solve N. Ireland Brexit row

Designing the protocol was a major source of friction in Britain’s drawn-out divorce from the European Union after it voted to leave the bloc in 2016…reports Asian Lite News.

The UK has called for “intensive talks” with the European Union (EU) on the Northern Ireland Protocol after both sides offered their own proposals to amend it.

In its proposal package published earlier Wednesday, the EU proposed a type of “express lane” to facilitate the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, including cutting customs formalities and simplified certification and an 80 per cent reduction of the checks for more retail goods for the Northern Ireland’s consumers, reports Xinhua news agency.

“The EU have now published their proposals in response to those in our Command Paper. We are studying the detail and will of course look at them seriously and constructively,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The next step should be intensive talks on both our sets of proposals, rapidly conducted, to determine whether there is common ground to find a solution,” the spokesperson said.

The EU proposals came in response to a new legal text put forward by the UK’s Brexit Minister David Frost on Tuesday.

Frost said the protocol is the biggest source of mistrust between the UK and the EU and demands “significant change”.

Northern Ireland is at the centre of the post-Brexit trade dispute between Britain and the EU.

As part of the Brexit deal, the Protocol stipulates that Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market and customs union to avoid a hard border between the region and the Republic of Ireland.

However, this leads to a new “regulatory” border between Britain and Northern Ireland.

For months, the UK has complained the rigid operation of the protocol, part of the Brexit deal, is unacceptable because it has severely disrupted trade, affected consumers and contributed to political instability.

Business welcomes movement

Northern Irish business groups welcomed “signs of movement from both sides” after the European Commission on Wednesday put a package of measures to Britain that could ease the transit of goods to Northern Ireland.

The 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 from the British mainland that have been hindered by barriers introduced under the Northern Ireland protocol.

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‘EU-UK Ties At Crossroads’

European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic said the Northern Ireland protocol is a “cornerstone” of the Brexit deal, and called on the UK to respect its commitments, reports Asian Lite News

The relationship between the European Union (EU) and the UK is “at crossroads” amid the Northern Ireland row, warned Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of inter-institutional relations and foresight.

“We are at a crossroads, now we have a choice of which path to go down: either we are working together, with the UK abiding by its international obligations and engaging in a good faith. Or, the UK continues to take unilateral actions,” Sefcovic said at an event on Friday.

Sefcovic warned that a wrong choice could lead to a downward spiral, taking the attention of both parties away from what should be their main goal, building a strong strategic partnership, reports Xinua news agency.

Sefcovic was referring to the UK’s seemingly unwillingness “to find workable solutions” to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is aimed at implementing a soft border on the island of Ireland and preserve the peace induced by the Good Friday Agreement.

The protocol is a “cornerstone” of the Brexit deal, emphasised Sefcovic, calling on the UK to respect its commitments.

On June 9, officials from both sides held talks in London on the Northern Ireland Protocol ahead of the G7 Summit but produced no breakthroughs.

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Tensions have been rising between the two sides on post-Brexit trade and a “grace period” for some border checks that will end at the end of this month.

According to reports, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said last week that the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol had been “very lopsided” and had had “real world effects” on the people.

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He called for the EU to show “a bit of respect”.

Meanwhile, Sefcovic on Friday estimated that the EU had already shown great understanding by turning their “rules upside down and inside out”, and that they are ready to go “beyond flexibility” to make things work.

The implementation of the protocol has already led to violence, as riots erupted in Belfast in April.

Loyalists and nationalists claimed that the trade agreement would create barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Under the Protocol, Northern Ireland will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU.

Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of inter-institutional relations and foresight. (Photo: twitter@MarosSefcovic)

This is known as the Irish sea border, a new trade border between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.

The Belfast Agreement, or the Good Friday Agreement, is a set of agreements signed between the British and Irish governments as well as the major political parties in Northern Ireland on Good Friday, April 10, 1998.

The deal, viewed as a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process, had helped end a period of conflict in the region.

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Lord Frost admits NI talks failing to make progress

According to Frost, who was the UK chief negotiator of the post-Brexit trade deal, the main difficulty is the way that the protocol is being operated, “which is not in our view consistent with the intentions of us as negotiators.”…reports Asian Lite News.

UK Brexit minister David Frost said on Wednesday that current talks with the European Union over the implementation of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol are making little progress, so London is keeping “all options on the table.”

“It’s just that we are not making much progress despite all the ideas that we have put in,” Frost told a parliamentary committee quizzing him about the fresh row between London and Brussels.

As part of the Brexit agreement, Northern Ireland remained in the European single market and customs unions after the United Kingdom left the bloc for good on December 31, 2020.

Although there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, all goods and animal-based products coming from the rest of the UK territories must be checked upon arrival to Northern Ireland to comply with the EU sanitary regulations, leading to delays in the arrival of products and protests from unionist loyal to London.

According to Frost, who was the UK chief negotiator of the post-Brexit trade deal, the main difficulty is the way that the protocol is being operated, “which is not in our view consistent with the intentions of us as negotiators.”

Asked if the government is considering to unilaterally scrap the agreement, he said that “all options are on the table,” but they would rather prefer to find a negotiated way forward whenever possible.

“The Prime Minister [Boris Johnson] has been very clear that all options are on the table. He has said several times we will do whatever is necessary, and that is the view that is held across Government because we are extremely concerned about the situation,” the minister stressed.

LONDON, Jan. 8, 2020 (Xinhua) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) meets with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London, Britain, Jan. 8, 2020. The European Union is ready to develop a new partnership unprecedented in scope with Britain, but it can never be the same as before after Brexit, visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said here Wednesday. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua/IANS)

The UK government is trying to push back the full implementation of checks on supermarket goods and parcels to prevent shortage of chilled meat products in the UK province due to delays caused by the customs checks and paperwork, but the EU claimed such move would undermine the protocol, and has threatened London with legal action.

The fresh row over the flow of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland dominated Johnson’s talks with EU leaders attending the last weekend’s Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, with the UK prime minister vowing to do “whatever it takes” to protect both the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the UK. (ANI/Sputnik)

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France threatens retaliation if UK breaches Brexit deal

The British government has threatened to unilaterally extend again the customs “grace period”, which was set to end on June 30, to October on Irish Sea border checks, over which the EU has vowed retaliation…reports Asian Lite News.

The UK will face “retaliatory measures” if it refuses to respect engagements made regarding the Brexit deal, French Minister of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune warned.

“(British Prime Minister) Boris Johnson thinks that you can sign deals with the Europeans, not respect them and Europe will not react. It is a test for Europe,” Xinhua news agency quoted Beaune as saying to the Europe 1 radio on Monday.

“I am telling the British people that commitments must be respected…and if not, we will take trade retaliatory measures.”

“We exclude nothing… We have enough to defend our interests, and we will do,” Beaume said when asked whether differences on the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit deal, could evolve into a trade war between the European Union (EU) and Britain.

Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which came into force on January 1, 2021, food products from Britain to the EU will have to enter through new border control posts at Northern Ireland’s ports.

Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and the rest of the bloc.

Such an arrangement led to the so-called Irish Sea border, an informal term for the new trade border between Northern Ireland and the other parts of Britain.

The British government has threatened to unilaterally extend again the customs “grace period”, which was set to end on June 30, to October on Irish Sea border checks, over which the EU has vowed retaliation.

“When you leave the European Union, you necessarily have a number of barriers,” said Beaune.

“I cannot tell Europeans that the British, via Northern Ireland, could export to us without any control of the products.

“Boris Johnson wants there to be no border between Northern Ireland and Britain, and we want to say ‘you made the choice of Brexit, you can’t have the butter and the money for butter’,” he added.

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