Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has urged EU leaders to proceed to formal talks on future UK-EU trade as soon as possible.
His comments come after EU Council President Donald Tusk today announced that the EU27 leaders had given the green light for internal preparatory discussions on future trade, but that “insufficient progress” had been made to proceed formally to post-Brexit trade talks with the United Kingdom.
Mr Nicholson said:
“From the start of these negotiations I have said that a deep and comprehensive partnership between the UK and the European Union is in the best interests of all parties.
“The reality is that the sequencing of the talks which the EU demanded, has proven to be unfit for purpose. The question of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, for example, is clearly inextricably linked to the question of what our future trading relationship will look like.
“While it is disappointing that EU leaders are still refusing to formally move to phase two of the negotiations, it is however welcome that they have given the green light to internal preparatory discussions on future trade, and I expect that in December we will see further movement.”