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Tony Connelly Profile picture
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23 Jun, 6 tweets, 1 min read
.@BrandonLewis at NI affairs cttee: We are very clear… that the current position on the Protocol is not sustainable, it is causing issues for businesses + consumers, citizens + we need to rectify that +get it corrected. I’m optimistic + confident we will get that done
2/ Lewis agrees that the only way the constitutional status of NI can change is through a border poll (as stated by Lord Frost last week)
3/ Lewis says if the EU wants the protocol to be sustainable then they should want it to get consent from both communities, as in the 2024 Assembly consent vote.
4/ Lewis: Irish ministers, +most countries in the world, are always welcome in NI (a propos the LCC statement last week). Re LCC: they are "clearly arguing for a peaceful future" in NI, but for that engagement to be productive they have to be clear they support peaceful processes
5/ Pressed Lewis says anyone inferring or arguing around violence is not helpful
6/ Gregory Campbell MP (DUP) suggesting that Sinn Fein is undermining the New Decade, New Approach agreement in the same way that the EU is undermining the Protocol

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More from @tconnellyRTE

Tony Connelly Profile picture
24 Jun
NEW: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued an opinion that the UK is guilty of indirect discrimination on the grounds of nationality if it refuses social assistance to an EU citizen who has been granted settled status under the post-Brexit EU Settlement Scheme.
2/ The case relates to a Dutch-Croatian woman living in Northern Ireland whose application for Universal Credit was refused by the Department for Communities in June 2020.
3/ The woman claimed that the refusal to award social assistance, despite the fact that she was granted a right of residence under the EU Settlement Scheme, constituted different treatment compared to British citizens, and therefore discrimination on the grounds of nationality.
Read 13 tweets
Tony Connelly Profile picture
23 Jun
BREAKING: The EU is expected to grant the UK an extension of the chilled meats grace period, applicable under the Northern Ireland Protocol, @rtenews understands.
2/ European Commission vice president @MarosSefcovic, who is leading discussions with the UK on the issue, has advised member states that the extension should be granted swiftly.
3/ It’s understood member states have informally agreed to grant the request, subject to conditions.
Read 9 tweets
Tony Connelly Profile picture
17 Jun
Where to next for the NI Protocol, following the G7 and the growing stand off over UK threats to unilaterally extend the grace period for chilled meats?
2/ Contacts between the European Commission and the UK govt have resumed, with talk of a possible meeting of the Specialised Committee, the technical body which prepares work for the more political Joint Committee.
3/ Nothing is confirmed yet, and there's no meeting planned between @DavidGHFrost and @MarosSefcovic. However, the July 1 chilled meats deadline is fast approaching, so things may start to accelerate if both sides want to avoid another clash over unilateral action
Read 14 tweets
Tony Connelly Profile picture
16 Jun
.@DavidGHFrost tells the NI Affairs Cttee the Northern Ireland Protocol is "a very delicately balanced set of provisions, with quite a lot of loose ends and open ended provisions for subsequent negotiation…" [Not the EU's understanding of it]
2/ Tells Cttee there has been "a very visible weakening of consent" for the Protocol in one community in NI
3/ Asked if the constant threat by the UK of triggering Article 16 undermines trust and stability, Frost says "all options remain on the table" but wd prefer to find other solutions "if we can". Says the current efforts to implement the Protocol add to "instability"
Read 6 tweets
Tony Connelly Profile picture
11 Jun
NEW: The EU will take a measured response to any further unilateral moves by the UK to delay implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, with senior officials signalling a staggered approach to legal action and arbitration, @rtenews understands.
2/ This would be to avoid falling into what diplomats fear would be the “trap” of escalating tensions around the Protocol as the loyalist marching season in Northern Ireland approaches its peak.
3/ The UK is widely expected to unilaterally extend a grace period, agreed with the EU in December, which delays the ban on chilled meats entering Northern Ireland from GB, and which expires on July 1.
Read 20 tweets
Tony Connelly Profile picture
10 Jun
Now that sausage wars are a thing, it’s worth pointing out what is at issue: this is not about the EU and UK banning each other’s sausages, never mind a “sausage war”
2/ The EU is raising the prospect of arbitration / cross retaliation through the TCA dispute mechanisms because of the alleged bad faith by the UK in not implementing the NI Protocol per se (and the unilateral actions it has taken)
3/ Those unilateral actions have had to do with grace periods, mutually agreed in December, relating to meats, Export Health Certificates, plants and pets
Read 17 tweets

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