Can EU offer on N Ireland checks resolve Brexit dispute with UK?

Can EU offer on N Ireland checks resolve Brexit dispute with UK?

Almost three months after the UK demanded far-reaching reform of the Brexit deal’s trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, the European Commission on Wednesday proposed more limited changes.

In July UK Brexit minister Lord David Frost requested a fundamental rewrite of the deal, to eliminate most checks on goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The commission responded with four papers on Wednesday that address some of Frost’s demands, but leave several others unanswered. The Financial Times summarises the key issues below.

1. Reducing the bureaucratic burden

The Northern Ireland protocol in the UK-EU withdrawal agreement sought to safeguard peace in the region by averting the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

But with the protocol placing Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods, the bloc insisted on customs and regulatory checks on products going to the region from Great Britain. The protocol thereby created a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Business complained these arrangements involved unacceptable levels of bureaucracy, and they were one of several factors blamed for violence in Northern Ireland in April.

In July, the UK government accepted the need for full EU checks on goods going from Great Britain into Ireland and the bloc’s single market