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EU and UK officials will hold technical talks in Brussels today on the ongoing controversy around the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It is understood that the European Union will again raise the issue of having a presence in Belfast, so that officials can oversee the implementation of checks and balances on goods arriving from Britain.
The UK is also likely to express concern about EU regulatory controls on large shipments of food going from Britain to supermarkets in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Protocol ensures that there are no firm land borders, but moves customs and regulatory controls to the Irish Sea.
How it will be implemented has been thrown into legal and political chaos by British legislation that would give ministers the power to unilaterally disapprove of key parts of the protocol.
The European Commission has taken legal action, but both parties are still talking about the issues through the high-level Joint Committee and the more technical specialized committee, which meets today.
The EU insists that since the protocol provides for European officials to oversee customs and regulatory controls on goods from Britain to Northern Ireland, it should have some form of presence in Belfast in order to do so effectively.
The problem broke out earlier this year.
The UK flatly refused to allow a technical office in an icy exchange of letters, in part because it would offend the Unionist community.
Officials insist that the EU has not abandoned the idea and that it will have to be resolved before the end of the year.
The UK is also pushing hard for Brussels to show maximum flexibility when it comes to potential tariffs or regulatory red tape on large shipments of food going directly from Britain to supermarkets in Northern Ireland.
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