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The UK government will consider removing clauses from internal market and finance bills that violate the Northern Ireland Protocol provided “long-term and legally sound” solutions are found for the more contentious parts of the Protocol. been able to know RTÉ News.
According to two sources, the solutions would have to be “satisfactory” for both the EU and the UK.
It is understood that the clauses would be removed as part of a virtuous sequence of events, beginning with the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement, followed by a quickly announced meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee, which has been negotiating the most difficult aspects of implement the Protocol.
That meeting would be expected to conclude, in principle, a series of solutions to issues such as movements of shipments of food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the issue of summary declarations of exit of goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. Brittany, competence of the EU State. rules on aid in Northern Ireland, how to define which British products would be at risk of crossing the border and thus potentially attract a tariff, and the question of what kind of presence EU officials would have in Northern Ireland .
The internal market bill is due to return Tuesday from the House of Lords, where its peers voted to remove the offending clauses.
Despite the UK government saying it will reinsert the clauses, RTÉ News understands that that would be a procedural step that could be reversed later, already later in the week, provided the hastily convened meeting of the Joint Committee was in condition. to reach a comprehensive solution to the outstanding issues.
In recent weeks, diplomats from both sides have said that steady progress has been made within the Joint Committee and that there are no major political difficulties dividing the two sides.
However, it is understood that some technical issues remain to be resolved.
Sources have said that the conclusion of a free trade agreement, on which EU and UK negotiators continue to work in Brussels, would help unravel some of the key contentious issues within the Northern Ireland Protocol, such as the question of state aid and the question of defining “assets at risk”.
The EU and Ireland have long warned that a future relationship agreement would not be ratified if the UK insisted on keeping the clauses within the Internal Market Act and was expected to appear in the next Finance Act.
The clauses override key elements of the Protocol by giving UK ministers the powers not to unilaterally apply aspects of the deal, which was signed and ratified by the EU and the UK in January.
Sources say that any solution to the contentious parts of the Protocol would have to be “long term” and “legally sound”, and not simply a grace period for Northern Ireland companies to adapt.
One source stressed that the solutions would have to be “satisfactory for both parties.”
The solutions should be part of the EU law and approved by the EU member states.
Member states are understood to have been given an idea of what the solutions might entail.
Once the technical work is completed, a final meeting of the Joint Committee would be held in mid-December to formally adopt the measures.
The Protocol will enter into force on January 1.
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