The EU and UK have been unable to agree on the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland for two years. Now EU Commission chief von der Leyen has announced a trip to London at short notice. An agreement in the long dispute may be imminent.
Shortly before an expected agreement in the long dispute over Brexit rules for Northern Ireland, a meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been announced. Von der Leyen is traveling to London on Monday, both sides said. She and Sunak have agreed to "personally continue their work to find common, practical solutions to the complex challenges related to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland," they said in a joint statement.
The BBC had previously reported that an agreement was imminent in the dispute over the status of Northern Ireland after Great Britain left the EU. Von der Leyen recently called the talks with Great Britain about the controls in Northern Ireland that would become necessary after Brexit "very constructive". British media had reported that an agreement was as good as reached.
On January 31, Great Britain celebrated the third anniversary of its exit from the EU. The Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit agreement negotiated between London and Brussels stipulates that the British province will remain part of the European single market. This creates a de facto customs border with the rest of the UK.
The regulation was intended to secure peace in Northern Ireland and at the same time protect the European internal market. The border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland must remain open under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The agreement ended the three-decade conflict in Northern Ireland.
However, Northern Ireland's unionists find the protocol unacceptable, fearing for Northern Ireland's affiliation with the United Kingdom. London had resumed negotiations with Brussels on the protocol, also arguing that the agreement would undermine the movement of goods within the UK. The protocol has never been fully implemented.
