Brexit: Sefcovic says both EU and UK must compromise on protocol

The EU and UK will both need to make further compromises on the Northern Ireland Protocol, the European Commission vice president has said.

Maros Sefcovic was speaking at Queen's University in Belfast.

He hinted that the EU will bring forward fresh ideas to ease the movement of goods across the Irish Sea.

Speaking at Queen's, Mr Sefcovic pointed to a bigger consultative role for Northern Ireland's politicians.

"Let's see what can be done to further ease the supply of goods," he said.

"And let's see how to involve the people of Northern Ireland in our discussions on the implementation of the protocol."

Unionists believe it undermines their place in the United Kingdom and want it to be scrapped.

Mr Sefcovic said in recent months EU officials "have been going through our rules with a fine tooth comb" to look for "creative and solid new solutions".

However, he cautioned that the new barriers created by Brexit and the protocol could not be removed entirely.

"While we will continue looking for solutions to minimise the effects of Brexit on your every day lives, we will never be able to remove them entirely - such are the consequences of Brexit and of the choices of the UK government."

Mr Sefcovic also warned the UK government that its aim to remove the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from the governance of the protocol would not be possible.

"I believe that our focus should be on those issues that matter the most to the people of Northern Ireland, and not on requests, such as removing the role of the European Court of Justice," he said.

"Doing this would effectively mean cutting Northern Ireland off the EU's Single Market and related opportunities."

Mr Sefcovic is in Northern Ireland to meet political, business and civic leaders.

Technical discussions between the UK and EU on an agri-food agreement have reached a stalemate.

The EU has offered the UK a Swiss-style deal which would involve the UK following EU rules.

The UK has rejected that and instead asked for a deal in which the EU would recognise UK standards as equivalent to its own.

An EU official has suggested that the issue could be unlocked with a bespoke arrangement which recognises Northern Ireland's unique circumstances.

It is not yet clear what such an arrangement might involve and the EU is wary that the UK would demand the same deal for GB-EU agri-food trade.