{"id":23373,"date":"2021-10-06T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23373"},"modified":"2021-10-06T14:07:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T18:07:21","slug":"coveney-britain-not-likely-to-invoke-article-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23373","title":{"rendered":"Coveney: Britain ‘Not Likely’ To Invoke Article 16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Simon Coveney (PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said that he does not believe that the UK government is likely to trigger Article 16 in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Coveney said on Wednesday that he did not think it was likely that Boris Johnson\u2019s government would take what is seen to be the nuclear option of triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney was speaking following comments by Brexit minister Lord Frost at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, in which he hinted that action over Northern Ireland\u2019s Brexit deal could be taken by Christmas as he called for \u201cshort, intensive\u201d talks with the EU to get under way swiftly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the UK and the EU cannot strike an agreement, Lord Frost said Britain will consider using Article 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move would effectively tear up parts of the deal to avoid a hard border with the Republic, which he negotiated with the EU last December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Frost told the Conservative Party conference in Manchester that he would \u201csoon be sending\u201d new legal texts to the EU with proposals to resolve the \u201cserious political problem\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that might change over the next couple of weeks or so. It does need to be resolved though, one way or another, whether it\u2019s through negotiations or Article 16,\u201d he told a fringe event arranged by the Policy Exchange think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney said on RT\u00c9 radio that there had been a lot of \u201ctough talk\u201d this week from Lord Frost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He insisted that he did not believe that the UK government would use Article 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy understanding is that the British government is not likely to trigger Article 16 any time soon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister said he believed the UK was \u201ccommitted to an intensive negotiation process for the rest of this month, with the European Commission, who are developing a new package of measures to try to ensure that we can take on board legitimate concerns that have been expressed with the implementation of the protocol\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney said that the Government and the EU had listened \u201cvery carefully\u201d to Lord Frost\u2019s comments but said that he believed negotiations between the two sides would continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do here is ensure that it is implemented in as flexible away as possible to reduce its impact, and I wouldn\u2019t read too much into the tough talk at a Conservative Party conference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protocol effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the EU\u2019s single market for goods, but as a result has imposed a trade barrier on products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unionists want British prime minister Boris Johnson to tear it up, a move he has so far resisted as the UK government presses for a renegotiation with Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a conference fringe event this week, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: \u201cWe simply cannot allow this situation to continue. And we need to see action taken by the Government within weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cWe need the Government to set up, and to take action to remove this Irish Sea border, remove the barriers to trade within the United Kingdom, and fundamentally to restore Northern Ireland\u2019s place within the UK internal market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Triggering Article 16 \u201chas its use in the short term\u201d, but legislation was needed \u201cto restore Northern Ireland\u2019s place fully within the United Kingdom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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