Negotiations between the European Union (EU) states and the United Kingdom over food and meat sales could be completed “in less than a year” with “political goodwill”, business leaders have been told.
The timetable offered by the European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic to the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce (BICC) is the most optimistic yet heard, with fears that it could take until late 2027.
An agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures would help to remove many of the hurdles that still affect trade between the EU and the UK, but, especially, between Britain and Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr Sefcovic said: “Based on the trust we have rebuilt over the last years, I’m convinced that we can proceed with the SPS negotiations very quickly. We are now very well advanced in getting the mandate from the member states to do that.”
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An SPS would “dramatically alleviate” the administrative burden facing businesses: “I would say probably an optimistic assessment would be that we can do it in less than a year if there is a good political will,” the Commissioner said.
The Windsor Framework was reached on the back of “courageous political leadership and a constructive approach on both sides”, helping to turn “a new page” in relations between London and the EU in our relationship.
It “comprehensively addressed” the existing problems and was “a careful balance”, offering flexibility wherever it could and “appropriate safeguards” where they were necessary to protect the EU single market.
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However, no agreement will ever replicate life before Brexit: “This is an audience who knows the realities and difficulties of doing business between the EU and the UK post-Brexit better than anyone,” he told the BICC conference.
“Even the best, the most comprehensive and deepest free trade agreement – and the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement is an excellent agreement, we will never be able to create the same effect as membership in the EU’s internal market and the customs union.
“This means it is inevitable that there will be more friction than when the UK was a member of the EU,” said Mr Sefcovic, who gave the main address to the BICC’s annual conference in Dublin.
Highlighting the difficulties being faced by businesses, the head of Marks and Spencer in Ireland, Eddie Murphy said his company has “a roomful of vets” in Scotland handling paperwork for food shipments from Britain to Ireland.
Before Brexit, containers of food could be sent with a single piece of paper, but today each requires 200 pages, he said, increasing prices, cutting the shelf-life of products and increasing food waste.
Replying, Mr Sefcovic said he had warned leading British businesspeople before the Brexit referendum: “Please do not take it negatively, but I was kind of hoping that these concerns would be voiced more vocally before the referendum, to be honest.”
He said he had visited the UK “many, many times” before the referendum warning of the disruption that business would face if the UK quit: “I think I spoke also with your CEO at that time,” he went on.
