EU/UK Confident Agreement On NI Protocol Can Be Reached: RTE

Selected comments from RTE's Tony Connelly's latest lengthy tweet thread (almost a full blog post) on talks surrounding the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, which is part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that governs the situation between the EU, Northern Ireland, and the rest of the UK following the end of the transition period:

• "EU and UK officials are expressing confidence that an overarching agreement on the outstanding issues of the Northern Ireland Protocol can be agreed in the coming weeks. Sources say that officials are making progress on all the key obstacles that have held up the full implementation of the Protocol in recent months."
• Officials are tight-lipped about the details of how the [controversial] issues [in the protocol] are being addressed due to their sensitivity, but they say there is now a clear choreography in place that should lead to an overall agreement by mid December."
• "Last night European Commission officials updated member states on the progress made so far. "They ran through all the decisions that need to be taken and where we stand," says one official briefed on the meeting. "It seemed to be quite encouraging. Work is underway, there's been progress"."
• "One diplomat said: "The general perception is that progress is being made across the board in all these sensitive subjects. It's going reasonably well"."
• "Member states will have to approve a series of formal legal decisions, mandated under the Protocol, so that the system will have a proper legal base under EU law on January 1. The UK is being appraised of these legal texts, it is understood."
• "A meeting of the Joint Committee was scheduled for today but was postponed. It is now expected to take place next week, with a final JC meeting happening by mid December. It's thought that at that point the overall package could be formally signed off by both the EU and UK. However, sources say there is still some way to go before all the details are finalised."