Thread by @tconnellyRTE

More info on the EU proposals:

2/ The European Commission says its proposals to ease the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol will cut checks and controls on a range of retail goods by 80pc.

3/ The proposals will also cut customs formalities on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland by half, and there will be new EU legislation to guarantee that medicines licensed in Great Britain can be freely circulated in Northern Ireland.

4/ The measures, to be unveiled shortly by the EU’s chief Protocol negotiator Maros Sefcovic, foresee express lanes at Northern ports for trucks carrying goods which do not require identity or physical checks.

5/ EU officials say the proposals will largely mean that GB chilled meats, including sausages, which are normally banned from entering the EU from third countries, will be permitted to enter Northern Ireland.

6/ However, the EU insists that the European Court of Justice must retain its central role in arbitrating any disputes that arise over the moving of goods in and out of Northern Ireland, if they are governed by single market rules.

7/ Officials say the new flexibilities will be conditional on a deeper sharing of data, both UK and private sector, which will give EU officials a real time picture of what goods are entering Northern Ireland from GB.

8/ This will involve a greater role for large retailers to ensure market surveillance and traceability of goods and will ensure that the EU can carry out a risk analysis of what is entering.

9/ An EU official said a Northern Ireland car dealer ordering parts from GB will only need to provide basic information, such as an invoice and the parties to the transaction, when clearing customs, rather than the full set of the EU customs code information.

10/ The EU has also suggested a greater oversight role for Northern Ireland institutions and businesses in how the Protocol is implemented.

11/ The proposals recommend a more formalised role for stakeholders in the Joint Consultative Working Group (JCWG), through which the EU informs the UK about new or updating legislation which may affect how the single market operates in Northern Ireland.

12/ The Commission has also recommended that the Northern Ireland Assembly have an enhanced place at the EU UK Parliamentary Assembly, which was envisaged under the free trade agreement.

13/ Today’s proposals are the EU’s response to the UK government’s so-called Command Paper, published on July 21, which called for sweeping changes to the Protocol.

14/ Speaking in Lisbon yesterday, the UK Brexit minister David Frost said that trust in the Protocol had been “shredded” and that it had to be replaced by a new text, one which stripped out the role of the ECJ.

15/ EU officials say today’s package of measures will in particular alleviate the burden for Northern Ireland supermarkets, which rely on large, mixed consignments of food products crossing the Irish Sea from distribution hubs in GB.

16/ Instead of needing scores of export health certificates, normally provided by qualified vets, for each product, if they contain animal ingredients, each container will only require one certificate.

17/ While sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) information will still have to be uploaded electronically before shipment, there will be virtually no identity or physical checks when the consignments arrive in Northern Ireland.

18/ The EU has also said that a new approach to customs paperwork will mean formalities will be cut by half.

Officials have confirmed that pets will not be covered by the new proposals and that they will continue to require certificates if moving from GB to NI.

19/ The European Commission says the UK must comply with existing obligations, including the completion of Border Control Posts (BCPs) at Northern ports.

20/ On the question of chilled meats, the Commission is proposing that any foods, such as Cumberland sausages, which have an identity “resonance” will be permitted if it is clear that such goods can not be supplied within Northern Ireland.

21/ Exporters should “demonstrate to us that there's a supply issue. And then of course, they can be included [in the new scheme],” says an EU official.

22/ “We suspect that many of these products such as Cumberland sausages will fall into a category of high risk product, but for which there's genuinely a supply chain issue if the goods can't come from GB. And for that reason, they will be covered by the solution that we propose"

23/ EU official, on Frost's claim of the Protocol being imposed undemocratically: "There is already an extremely important provision on representations of Northern Irish institutions, and on democracy in the protocol.

24/ "The Northern Ireland executive, the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister participate in, take the floor in Joint Committee meetings.

25/ "There’s a Joint Consultative Working Group, which is specifically there to involve them so that they know what's going on in the context of implementation.

26/ "There's a consent mechanism, a rolling four year consent mechanism in the protocol, which can make the protocol fall. So there is already a lot in the protocol on this topic"