Latest Truss-Sefcovic Call Makes No Progress On NI Protocol

A call earlier this morning between UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and EU Commission VP Maros Sefcovic made little-to-no progress on the issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol according to a readout from the UK side.

• EU Statement: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail...
• UK Statement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secreta...
• EU Statement select comments: "It continues to be of serious concern that the UK government intends to embark on the path of unilateral action....We have made clear that there is still potential to be explored in our proposals. We are still awaiting the response from the UK side...Such unilateral action will also undermine the conditions which are essential for Northern Ireland to continue to have access to the EU single market for goods. The EU and the UK are partners facing the same global challenges where upholding the rule of law and living up to international obligations is a necessity."
• UK Statement select comments: "...She also noted that the current situation was causing unacceptable disruption to trade and had created a two-tier system where people in Northern Ireland weren’t being treated the same as everyone else in the UK....Vice President Šefčovič confirmed that there was no room to expand the EU negotiating mandate or introduce new proposals to reduce the overall level of trade friction.... if the EU would not show the requisite flexibility to help solve those issues, then as a responsible government we would have no choice but to act."
• Should be noted that previous calls or meetings between Truss and Sefcovic were followed by joint statements. Issuing separate statements marks a return to the days when hardline Brexiteer Lord Frost acted as the main point of contact with the EU,