EU awaits counterproposals from UK in Brexit standoff

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EU awaits counterproposals from UK in Brexit standoff

2021-11-19 19:35 Last Updated At：19:40

The European Union was awaiting a firm counterproposal from the United Kingdom on Friday to ease a standoff over how to deal with Britain's departure from the bloc.

Both sides are fighting over differences in how to regulate trade in Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. but also belongs to the EU's huge single market in a Byzantine deal that proved essential in the Brexit divorce negotiations.

Both sides recognize that deal is far from perfect and have been negotiating how to improve the movement of goods to Northern Ireland from Britain without giving London unfettered backdoor passage to the market of the 27-nation EU.

While EU Brexit negotiator Maros Sefcovic said there was a “change in tone” for the better in London, he added that last month's EU compromise proposal to cut down on red tape between Britain and Northern Ireland needed to be reciprocated.

“We hope that action will follow the words,” he said Friday.

His UK counterpart, David Frost, insisted that “there are a large number of issues that need to be fixed if we’re going to resolve this problem,” adding that “there are still really quite significant gaps.”

Negotiations have dragged on for a month, with Britain threatening to suspend parts of the legally binding divorce agreement between the two sides if no solution is found soon.

Frost said triggering an emergency break clause known as Article 16 remains a real possibility.

“If we can’t safeguard positions on the problems in Northern Ireland through negotiations, then Article 16 safeguards are there as well,” he said.

Article 16 lets either side suspend portions of the Brexit agreement in extreme circumstances. A move by Britain to use it would trigger EU retaliation and could spiral into a trade war between the 27-nation bloc and its increasingly estranged former member.

Northern Ireland is part of the U.K. and shares a border with EU member Ireland. Under the Brexit deal agreed before the U.K. left the EU at the end of 2020, it remains inside the bloc’s tariff-free single market for goods to ensure there is an open border on the island of Ireland — a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process.

That has created a new customs border in the Irish Sea for goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K., even though they are part of the same country.

It also has brought red tape for businesses and angered Northern Ireland’s British Unionists, who say the checks undermine Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K. and destabilize the delicate political balance on which peace rests.

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.