The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland was negotiated and agreed by the EU and the UK to address the complex set of challenges presented by Brexit on the island of Ireland. An integral part of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the Protocol is the agreed way to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, to avoid a hard border, and protect the integrity of the Single Market and Ireland’s place within it.
I am in regular and ongoing contact with British government counterparts, political leaders and other stakeholders in Northern Ireland on the implementation of the Protocol. We all have a responsibility to listen to the genuine concerns and engage with citizens, businesses, politicians and community leaders in the North. We also have to be clear there is no agreed alternative to the problems caused by Brexit on the island of Ireland besides the Protocol – a solution which was jointly negotiated, jointly agreed and which must now be jointly implemented.
The Protocol makes no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as set down in the Good Friday Agreement. It is important to underline this point and I continue to do so in all my contacts.
Throughout these engagements, I have continued to make clear that our shared goal must be full implementation of the Protocol to minimise the disruption caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland. I have welcomed the ongoing engagement between the EU and the UK on outstanding issues and stressed the need for the outstanding issues to be dealt with by the UK and the EU working together, in partnership.
I also continue to listen carefully to the genuine concerns that are there and will continue to advocate for appropriate flexibilities with regard to implementation, within the framework of the Protocol itself, so that the negative impact of Brexit on the people of Northern Ireland is minimised. This has always been the aim of the Protocol: to minimise the disruption which Brexit was inevitably going to cause for Northern Ireland.
