Irish foreign min Simon Coveney has warned that the EU will not agree to a free trade agreement with the UK unless it signs up to “equivalence” in the way goods are produced in the UK and the EU.
“There is no way the EU will ever sign up to a trade deal that allows tariff free, quota free and frictionless access to UK goods coming in to the EU if there isn’t a level playing field in terms of how they’re produced, because that would be unfair competition...
“Everybody understands that for the EU a big priority is a level playing field, in other words the way in which goods are produced needs to be equivalent in the UK as in the EU if there’s going to be quota free + tariff free trade in the future + I think everybody understands why
"I don’t think anybody in the UK should estimate the strength of feeling across the European Union that will ensure that in a new future trade relationship there isn’t a disparity in terms of the cost of producing product in the context of a level playing field."
Mr Coveney was speaking on the margins of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussesl
He also reminded the UK about the requirements of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
"Regardless of the future relationship, regardless of the potential for a future trade deal,the relationships on the island of Ireland, the guarantees that have been provided to prevent border infrastructure being necessary, require that new structures are put in place...
"...new committees are put in place in terms of managing the trade relationship between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. “We all know what’s in that Protocol. There’s a lot of work to ensure that that is in place in plenty of time.
"Those structures need to be put in place in parallel with progressing the negotiations and discussions on a future relationships and future trade deal.”
