{"id":114769,"date":"2025-05-19T16:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/114769\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T16:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:26:12","slug":"planned-eu-uk-deal-a-good-day-for-northern-ireland-with-barriers-likely-to-come-down-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/114769\/","title":{"rendered":"Planned EU-UK deal a \u2018good day for Northern Ireland\u2019 with barriers likely to come down \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The announcement of a commitment by the EU and UK to work towards a deal <\/a>which would remove most checks on agri-food products moving between Britain and the North has been hailed as \u201ca good day for Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking following the announcement by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer<\/a>, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/a>, on Monday, the T\u00e1naiste, Simon Harris<\/a>, said it was \u201cvery important that the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland be taken into account, and that has been done. <\/p>\n

\u201cA broad-based SPS [sanitary and phyto-sanitary] agreement would bring significant benefits for Northern Ireland business and consumers, and for the efficient operation of the Windsor Framework,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The commitment regarding SPS checks was part of a wide-ranging agreement announced following an EU-UK summit, and includes increased co-operation in areas including food, fishing, defence and passport checks. <\/p>\n

According to the text of the agreement on a \u201crenewed agenda\u201d for EU-UK co-operation, London and Brussels have committed to \u201cwork towards establishing a Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement\u201d which would result in dynamic alignment on SPS products between the EU and UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would result in the vast majority of movements of animals, animal products, plants and plant products between Great Britain and the European Union being undertaken without the certificates or controls that are currently required by the rules,\u201d the agreement stated. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Brexit \u2018reset\u2019 to give Irish fishing boats access to British watersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This would also apply to Northern Ireland through the \u201cinterplay of the Windsor Framework and the SPS Agreement, so long as the SPS Agreement is fully implemented\u201d and will \u201cprovide for Northern Ireland maintaining its privileged unique dual access to both the European Union Single Market and the United Kingdom internal market,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

It is not clear how it will take to reach this agreement, but it will require detailed negotiation of the legal text and an implementation process, and therefore could take some time. <\/p>\n

The Windsor Framework \u2013 which governs post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland – remains in place, and its rules on SPS goods will continue to operate in the meantime. <\/p>\n

The North will also remain part of the EU customs union, with customs declarations still required for goods shipped from GB to Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n

The need for checks on agrifood products moving between Britain and Northern Ireland \u2013 which remains inside the EU single market for goods \u2013 has been one of the most economically arduous and politically contentious consequences of Brexit for the North. <\/p>\n

Unionists were opposed to the creation of an effective Border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, while economically, physical checks and additional red tape increased costs for businesses and made it harder to import some products. <\/p>\n

Reacting to the announcement, the CEO of the NI Chamber, Suzanne Wylie, said it was \u201ca step in the right direction. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is welcome that the reset includes a pathway to an agrifood (SPS) deal and the linking emissions trading schemes,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, local businesses will take time to analyse the detail as and when it emerges.\u201d <\/p>\n

She also added that the agreement \u201cwill not solve all the challenges our members face\u201d and said the NI Chamber \u201cwould like to see greater aspiration to tackle regulatory divergence more broadly, and to reduce the customs burden under the Windsor Framework.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge that this is the beginning of a process, we welcome the direction of travel but there is much to do to and a need to move at pace,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Rain Newton-Smith, the Chief Executive of the CBI, said \u201ccooperation on SPS measures is a significant win for business. <\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent costs, complexities and delays disrupt trade flows \u2013 meaning lost growth in a time of economic need,\u201d Ms Newton-Smith said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs both sides look to iron out the details in the coming months, easing trade barriers for Northern Irish firms and supporting island of Ireland supply chains must remain a priority.\u201d <\/p>\n

The North\u2019s First Minister, Michelle O\u2019Neill, welcomed the announcement but said \u201cthe devil will be in the detail. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that protects the all-island economy, anything that maximises our access to both markets in terms of trade, anything that removes barriers for trade, then that\u2019s something we would obviously very much welcome,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader, Jim Allister, said the \u201csurrender of UK fishing waters for another 12 years to the EU is the most vivid illustration of the [UK] government\u2019s agenda to sabotage Brexit. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe deal copper-fastens NI as EU territory,\u201d he said, adding that despite the \u201cspin of diminishing the Irish Sea Border\u201d a number of points of divergence between the UK and Northern Ireland remained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The announcement of a commitment by the EU and UK to work towards a deal which would remove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[802,1144,7160,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-114769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-simon-harris","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114535437821359276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}