The United Kingdom has an "urgent need" to accelerate its implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, the set of regulations included in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement covering customs and trade relations in Northern Ireland, before the end of the year, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said at a press conference on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2020) The United Kingdom has an "urgent need" to accelerate its implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, the set of regulations included in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement covering customs and trade relations in Northern Ireland, before the end of the year, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said at a press conference on Monday.
Brussels has been highly critical of the UK government's Internal Market Bill, a new set of measures introduced to parliament earlier in September that would roll back some of the state aid and customs commitments that London made in the Northern Ireland protocol.
Sefcovic spoke to reporters after a meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee earlier in the day and urged the UK government to honor the prior agreement.
"Here, the window of opportunity to put in place the operational measures for it [the Northern Ireland protocol] to function is rapidly closing. I have therefore reiterated the urgent need for the UK to accelerate its work on all aspects of the protocol," the European Commission vice-president said.
According to Sefcovic, the protocol must be implemented in full by the end of the year, when the current Brexit transition period expires. However, Brussels and London remain far apart on the matter, he added.
"We welcome that the UK is now engaging on some of the Joint Committee decisions that need to be adopted before the end of the year to fully implement the protocol, but many difficult issues remain. The UK's position is far apart from what the EU can accept," Sefcovic commented.
The European Commission vice-president added that he saw no indication from his conversations with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove that the UK was ready to withdraw the contentious parts of the Internal Market Bill.
The Northern Ireland protocol set out that certain goods being shipped from the rest of the United Kingdom would have to go through customs checks before entering Northern Ireland.
The protocol was established to ensure that there would be no need for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is seen to be a vital factor in protecting the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 peace deal that brought decades of conflict to a close.
The Internal Market Bill, which the EU says violates international law, passed its first reading in the House of Commons on September 15.
