Northern Ireland Protocol: Are negotiators nearing ‘The Tunnel’?

On Thursday last week, international business magazine Bloomberg reported:

The European Union and the UK are preparing to enter an intense phase of negotiations starting next week aimed at overcoming the dispute over the post-Brexit trading relationship well ahead of the anniversary of Northern Ireland’s peace agreement in April, according to people familiar with the matter.

The aim is to move into a negotiating “tunnel” after UK foreign minister James Cleverly and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic take stock of talks on Jan. 16, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

This was followed on Friday by a piece on the UK website Politico, headlined:

Britain and EU close to new ‘mini-deal’ on post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland; Mood music on both sides improving as negotiators prepare for intensified talks.

It quoted an unnamed EU official as saying: “We’ve entered a new dynamic that I believe will yield a positive result. I don’t think it will fail. The change in the British attitude was already clear, and it’s been confirmed. There is a willingness to find solutions quickly.”

This article too added that there may be announcement on Monday (ie, today) “that the two sides are entering the ‘tunnel’”.

And on Sunday Jessica Parker, BBC Brussels correspondent, said the rumours seem to be around a deal over "tariffs on products such as steel" in particular.

But even if this is true, this issue is "low hanging fruit" – in other words, one of the easier-to-solve quandaries of the Protocol.

Big questions would still remain about what "if anything" has been agreed on all the other Protocol issues.

"What I'm hearing is we could soon get some sort of political declaration really, nodding towards lots of progress in terms of trade... with details to be ironed out later, and then nodding towards those other issues saying those will be talked about going forward,” she said.

Some sources though were telling her "not to get too excited".

As to whether “The Tunnel” is indeed drawing near, she had this to say:

“The Tunnel, people might remember back from former Brexit negotiation days, is when supposedly negotiators throw away their phones can't talk to journalists, can't even talk necessarily to other officials and politicians, and go into really intensive talks.”

"What we’re looking at potentially,” she warned, is a mere “political declaration” about “progress on trade”.

But even this could be just hype, of course.

The News Letter will be monitoring matters throughout the day, so stay tuned.

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