UK, EU meeting in bid to calm post-Brexit trade turbulence

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UK, EU meeting in bid to calm post-Brexit trade turbulence

2021-02-11 22:12 Last Updated At：22:20

Breaking up is proving hard to do for Britain and the European Union, whose divorce deal is in choppy waters just six weeks after the U.K. made its economic split from the bloc.

U.K. Brexit minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic are meeting in London later Thursday to try to smooth out the problems, but few expect a quick resolution.

The turbulence centers on Northern Ireland, whose complex status has been one of the trickiest issues in the U.K.-EU divorce.

Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator during years of Brexit talks, said both sides “must be conscious of their responsibilities” to Northern Ireland.

“The situation has never been easy in Ireland and everything is complex,” he said at a European business summit on Thursday. “I recommend personally to everybody on both sides to be responsible and take care.”

Since Britain left the EU’s economic structures on Dec. 31, goods moving between the U.K. and the bloc have faced customs and veterinary checks under the terms of a new trade deal. Checks have also been imposed on some British goods going to Northern Ireland because it shares a border with EU member-state Ireland.

Those checks have unsettled the delicate political balance in Northern Ireland, a part of the U.K. where some people identify as British and some as Irish. The new measures are designed to prevent a hard border being imposed between Ireland and the north -- something that could undermine the Irish peace process -- but they are opposed by pro-British Unionists, who say they drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

Northern Ireland authorities halted veterinary checks and withdrew border staff from ports for several days this month after threatening graffiti appeared referring to port workers as targets.

The sensitivity of Northern Ireland’s status was underscored earlier this month when the EU briefly threatened to ban shipments of coronavirus vaccines to Northern Ireland amid a dispute with Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca. That would have drawn a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland -- exactly what the Brexit trade deal was crafted to avoid.

The EU quickly dropped the idea after British, Irish and Northern Ireland politicians expressed alarm. But Britain has seized on the gaffe to accuse the EU of undermining the Brexit divorce agreement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, Jamie Davies, said the bloc’s move had caused “shock and anger” in Northern Ireland. He said there was a need “to take urgent steps to restore confidence as a result.”

The U.K. wants the EU to take a more light-touch approach to border checks, which have already led to shortages and delays in getting some goods to Northern Ireland. Britain has asked for short-term grace periods that have delayed imposition of full red tape on supermarket supplies, parcels and medicines extended until at least 2023.

The EU says some economic friction is the inevitable outcome of Britain’s decision to leave the bloc’s single market and customs union, and insists the Northern Ireland Protocol can’t be significantly renegotiated.

In a letter to Gove before their meeting, Sefcovic pointed to “shortcomings” in Britain’s implementation of the agreement, saying border facilities were fully up and running and only limited checks were taking place.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin urged both sides to “dial down the rhetoric.”

“There are bound to be teething issues and teething problems,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE.

Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this story.

Follow all AP stories on Brexit issues at https://apnews.com/Brexit

EU, Britain and Spain say significant progress made in talks on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

2024-04-12 23:26 Last Updated At：23:31

MADRID (AP) — British and Spanish foreign ministers said a new round of talks held Friday over the status of the disputed territory of Gibraltar following Britain’s exit from the European Union were productive and significant progress was made.

The meeting was between Spain's José Manuel Albares, Britain’s David Cameron and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also attended. It was the first time representatives from the four areas had come together for talks on the issue.

In a statement after the meeting, the parties said "discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved.

“General political lines have been agreed (on), including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the EU-UK Agreement,” it added.

All sides are eager to clinch a deal before European elections in June.

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border have made halting progress in the 19 rounds of negotiations so far, but both Spanish and U.K. officials have recently expressed optimism about a deal.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

A major sticking point has been who controls Gibraltar’s airport, which under the proposed free-movement deal would be an external border of the EU. The U.K. and Gibraltar have resisted Spain’s insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

The British Foreign Office said Thursday that while it did not expect a final agreement Friday, "getting senior political figures from the UK, European Commission, Spain and Gibraltar in one room is significant.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.