EU extends olive branch to Liz Truss with offer to slash trade checks in Irish Sea Maros Sefcovic says his plan to cut checks to just a 'couple of lorries a day' would create an 'invisible' trade border
Brussels has offered to slash physical trade checks in the Irish Sea to a “couple of lorries a day” in an olive branch to the new prime minister.
In the hope of breaking the deadlock over the Northern Ireland Protocol, Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, said his plan would create an “invisible” trade border.
But he warned the proposal hinged on the European Commission being granted real-time access to UK trade databases in order to police which products cross into the Republic of Ireland.
“If the data are downloaded into the system, when the goods are put on the ferry from Britain... I believe that we can remotely process them while sailing to Northern Ireland,” Mr Sefcovic said.
He added physical checks would only be made when “there is reasonable suspicion of illegal trade smuggling, illegal drugs, dangerous toys or poisoned food”.
The Slovak diplomat told the FT only a “couple of lorries a day” would be examined, with no difference between the UK’s demand for “no checks” and the EU’s offer of “minimum checks, done in an invisible manner”.
Britain has granted EU officials access to its trade databases, but Brussels claims they will not receive enough information to suspend most checks in the Irish Sea.
The Protocol prevents a hard Irish border by introducing checks on British goods entering NI and means the province continues to follow some EU rules.
A European source close to the talks, however, stressed that the apparent offer remained the same as proposals to ease the burden of the Protocol floated by Brussels last October.
Under the proposals, up to 50 per cent of customs checks on goods being shipped between Great Britain and NI would be lifted, which UK officials say does not go far enough to address the issues caused by the Protocol.
So far the Commission has refused to a wholesale renegotiation of the border arrangements, instead insisting talks must focus on its package from last October.
Mr Sefcovic was said to be keen to restart negotiations ahead of next month’s deadline to avoid new Stormont elections.
With the DUP refusing to form a new devolved administration in NI, a caretaker government is in place but must be dissolved by Oct 28 unless a new executive is formed.
The Secretary of State for NI is then obliged to call new elections within three months or by Jan 19 at the latest.
“I also would prefer to work around the tight deadlines because I am fully aware of the dates which will be coming by the end of October,” he told the FT.
But the EC was yet to receive news on Britain’s next Brexit negotiator, after Liz Truss, who held the role while foreign secretary, became prime minister, according to a source.
Mr Sefcovic said he was “encouraged” by Ms Truss’s recent remarks about her desire for a negotiated solution.
Progress, however, is unlikely while the Government’s NI Protocol Bill, which will give ministers powers to unilaterally override the border agreement, is still on the table.
Brussels has branded the legislation a breach of international law and urged the Government to scrap the move.
The Commission responded by blocking Britain’s accession to the bloc’s Horizon research programme, agreed as part of the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
“We need to see that the most important agreements are now respected before we start to negotiate another one,” Mr Sefcovic said.
He also claimed the Commission had reached out to the United States in the hope of securing potential investment in NI.
