Latest updates: Lord Frost holds talks with Maroš Šefčovič in attempt to resolve the dispute about post-Brexit rules
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Lord Frost and his EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European commission, have started their talks at Admiralty House in London. Although it essentially one event, technically there are two meetings taking place: a meeting of the withdrawal agreement joint committee meeting (the body set up to oversee the implementation of the withdrawal agreement, including the Northern Ireland protocol); and a meeting of the partnership council (the body set up to oversee the implementation of the UK-EU trade deal, the trade and cooperation agreement). Frost and Šefčovič jointly chair both bodies.
Here is the agenda (pdf) for the withdrawal agreement joint committee meeting. And here is the agenda (pdf) for the partnership council meeting.
In a statement issued last night, ahead of his meeting this morning with Maroš Šefčovič, Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, urged the EU to adopt “pragmatism” and “common sense solutions” to resolve the problems in Northern Ireland. He said:
I hope this will be a productive forum where we can address shared challenges by working together in the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.
First among these challenges is the damaging impact the protocol is having on the ground in Northern Ireland. Businesses in Great Britain are choosing not to sell their goods into Northern Ireland because of burdensome paperwork, medicine manufacturers are threatening to cut vital supplies, and chilled meats from British farmers destined for the Northern Ireland market are at risk of being banned entirely …
