Customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be “indispensable” after the Brexit transition period ends in December, Michel Barnier said today.
Speaking at Queens University Belfast, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator pushed back against Boris Johnsons repeated claims there will be no checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea after Brexit.
Barnier insisted the Northern Ireland protocol Johnson signed up to in October “makes frictionless trade impossible. It makes checks indispensable.”
He said: “I understand the fears of negative economic fallout expressed by some about these checks. But Brexit unfortunately has consequences that we must manage.”
Barnier argued that the EU will never compromise on the security of the single market, and said that as a result “there will be no possibility for frictionless trade” between the EU and the U.K. after Brexit.
Stating that the Withdrawal Agreement was an international treaty which had been ratified by the House of Commons and was about to be ratified by the European Parliament, he said: “We have Read More – Source
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