PRESS RELEASE : Northern Ireland Protocol meeting, January 2023 – joint statement from the Foreign Secretary and Vice President Šefčovič [January 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 9 January 2023.

Vice President Šefčovič met Foreign Secretary Cleverly and Northern Ireland Secretary Heaton-Harris in London on 9 January. They took stock of work to find joint solutions to the concerns raised by businesses and communities in Northern Ireland. The meeting was cordial and constructive.

They underlined the EU and UK’s shared commitment to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its parts, while protecting the integrity of both the EU Single Market and the UK internal market.

They agreed that while a range of critical issues need to be resolved to find a way forward, an agreement was reached today on the way forward regarding the specific question of the EU’s access to UK IT systems.

They noted this work was a critical prerequisite to building trust and providing assurance, and provided a new basis for EU-UK discussions.

EU and UK technical teams will work rapidly to scope the potential for solutions in different areas on the basis of this renewed understanding, and the Foreign Secretary, the Northern Ireland Secretary and Vice President Šefčovič would take stock of progress on 16 January.