Dr. Christy Ann Petit:

Very briefly, we will cover some possible practical solutions as regards the implementation issues. In particular, the bespoke arrangements that were proposed by the commission in October 2021 included further flexibility in the area of food, plant and animal health, customs, movement of sanitary and phytosanitary products, medicines and engagement with stakeholders. Overall, this set of arrangements means a different implementation model of the protocol, but within its legal scope. However, as mentioned, the UK did not react constructively to these proposals for a long time.

What could help are some pragmatic measures to help the technical implementation on the ground, for example, IT solutions to make the identification of goods easier such as a UK database that could give real-time reporting about the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Following the UK non-implementation the protocol and further uncooperative reactions, the EU initiated some legal challenges before the Court of Justice of the European Union. Litigation on both sides accompanied the worsening of the EU-UK relationship. These legal actions do not favour a joint, cooperative solution now but may be conducive to a reconciliation, should there be a different political environment to reach a compromise that then would suspend these legal proceedings. As regards the legal proceedings, the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union will not be an element that is open for negotiation on the EU side.

We wanted to finish with a more positive tone that is existing more on the side of the EU. Over the last two months there have been signs of a warming of the relationship at a political level. In Prague, former UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, took a more constructive approach when she attended the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community in early October.

The current UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who is depicted as a financial and economic realist, has given recent cause for hopes of a reset in relations between the UK and the EU. Likewise, the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, reported of the EU’s determination to find a solution after speaking with the UK Prime Minister. That was reported in a speech earlier this month at the University of Oxford.

To give an example, the UK’s readiness to sign a memorandum of understanding with the member states of North Seas Energy Cooperation illustrates how the UK and the European Commission can cooperate in a specific sector. In this case it is on offshore renewable energy, so again, this is more about energy security and the current energy crisis. This cooperative approach could be a useful precedent for other issues. This is the case, for instance, of financial services that led in practice to a no deal Brexit for financial services according to Niamh Moloney.

We acknowledge that geo-political and economic environments compel the EU to concentrate on other pressing matters such as the energy crisis that has just been mentioned, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and rising inflation. We will stop our remarks there and very much look forward to the conversation with members.