After another round of technical talks between European Commission and UK officials in Brussels this week, here's a state of play on the NI Protocol talks:
2/ The European Commission has presented its package of easements and flexibilities, published on Wed last week, and the UK have been asking a lot of questions. The fact that both sides have devled into a lot of detail is seen (at least in Brussels) as positive
3/ The detail covers SPS (agrifood), medicines, customs, a role for NI institutions. Sources say the issue of the ECJ has not come up in technical talks so far
4/ The Commission has received the UK legal texts. London has asked that they not be shared with other member states. I understand the texts are a faithful representation of the July 21 Command Paper
5/ Large parts of the legal text are, as far as the Commission is concerned, out of bounds as they require a renegotitaion of the Protocol, and that remains a no go for the EU
6/ The Commission prefers to find common ground quickly, rather than going back and forth over old ground, or getting into things which will be deemed a renegotiation
7/ The Commission wants progress recorded at the end of each session as another way of keeping the process as short as possible, or not to be spun out to the end of the year
8/ Very hard for the EU side to get a sense of whether or not the UK is in the mood for a deal on the basis of the Commission proposals. Source says at the moment it's all about questions + explanations, and that Downing Street may not yet have decided what frame of mind it's in
9/ @DavidGHFrost and @MarosSefcovic spoke by phone yesterday essentially to set up the agenda for next week's technical talks, which will take place in London
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