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Frictionless trade after Brexit will be impossible, the EU chief Brexit negotiator has said.<\/p>\nFrictionless trade after Brexit will be impossible, the EU chief Brexit negotiator has said.<\/p>\n
Michel Barnier made the comments to an audience at the Queen\u2019s University in Belfast just days before the UK is set to leave the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UK has chosen to become a third country; to leave the Single Market and the Customs Union; to leave behind the EU\u2019s framework of common rules, common supervision and common Court of Justice,\u201d Mr Barnier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has chosen to create two regulatory spaces. This makes frictionless trade impossible. It makes checks indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to politicians including former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as well as business and community leaders, Mr Barnier confirmed checks will take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will need sanitary and phyto-sanitary checks on food products and live animals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU must be able to assess risks on any product coming into its market and, if necessary, activate physical controls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese checks must take place somewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as the whole point of the protocol is to avoid a hard border and protect the all-island economy, it was clear that they could not take place at the land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only real option was to use Northern Ireland\u2019s other entry points. This is also where such checks are the easiest to implement. And controls will also take place in Dublin and other EU entry points.\u201d<\/p>\n