Brexit: Maros Šefčovič to speak with Stormont leaders

The European Commission's Maros Šefčovič will speak with Stormont's political leaders later.

Northern Ireland's special Brexit deal keeps it in the EU's single market for goods and allows free-flowing trade with the EU.

The UK says the arrangement imposes too many barriers.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed by the EU and UK in the Brexit deal, means goods arriving from Britain face checks and controls.

The EU said their new plan would remove about 80% of spot checks and cut customs paperwork by 50%.

However, the measures fall short of UK demands to fundamentally change the protocol by removing the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from an oversight role.

The UK government said it was studying the detail of the EU's proposals.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the proposals were "a good mark of progress", but that it was now "up to others whether or not they engage with this process".

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said there was still a significant gap between the EU and UK positions.

"We recognise the EU wants to protect the integrity of their single market, but it's important that the EU recognises the need for the UK's internal market to be protected," he told BBC Radio Foyle.

"We expect the UK government to press hard to get an outcome that does just that."

Alliance leader Naomi Long said there was "a bit of gameplay going on".

"If we are to remain in the single market... then the ECJ is the standard and default option for dispute resolution in that context," she said.

"It worries me that the EU have dealt with all of those issues, the practical and pragmatic things, that businesses and politicians have raised and as soon as they get within touching distant of a really improved situation, suddenly it's about the ECJ."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the measures "go further than expected" and demonstrate that EU leaders are "stretching themselves in the interests of people and businesses in Northern Ireland".

UUP leader Doug Beattie said the proposals were "a step forward but there remains a long way to go".

At the start of the year, the new post-Brexit arrangement - known as the Northern Ireland Protocol - was introduced to help prevent checks along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It involves keeping Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods - but this, in turn, creates a new trade border with Great Britain. Unionists say this undermines their place in the UK.

The EU acknowledges that it has caused difficulties for Northern Ireland businesses and is now attempting to ease that burden with what it calls "a different model".

On Wednesday, Mr Šefčovič said he had listened to, and engaged with, those in Northern Ireland and the "proposals are a direct, genuine response to their concerns".

He said he looked forward to "engaging earnestly and intensively" with the UK government.

A UK government spokesman said the next step should be a "rapidly conducted" round of intensive talks on both the UK and EU proposals.

"Significant changes which tackle the fundamental issues at the heart of the protocol, including governance, must be made if we are to agree a durable settlement which commands support in Northern Ireland," he said.

Talks between the EU and UK on the new proposals are now likely to go on for several weeks.

There are also plans to give Northern Ireland politicians and other interested parties greater influence over the implementation of the protocol.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the Brexit deal: It is an agreement that means goods can pass freely across the Irish border. Basically, lorries don't have to stop and prove their goods follow EU rules when they go between Northern Ireland (in the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (in the EU).

It means Northern Ireland still follows some EU rules: As the rest of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales) no longer follow EU trade rules, some goods from there have to be checked when they arrive in Northern Ireland.

But some goods from Britain can't enter Northern Ireland at all: EU rules don't allow certain products, like chilled sausages, to enter its market. A grace period, where the rules don't apply, has been in place since January but no long-term solution has been found.

As part of these plans, the UK government wants to reverse its previous agreement on the oversight role of the ECJ, which is the EU's highest court.

The agreement states that the ECJ has jurisdiction to rule on matters of EU law in Northern Ireland - so for example, if there was a dispute around complying with applicable EU law, the EU could take the UK to the ECJ.