British and European Union negotiators made efforts to show goodwill and common purpose on Monday despite their differences over the Northern Ireland Protocol in a bid to duck political acrimony.
The two sides issued a joint statement after the meeting of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee, beating expectations that they would not even be able to come up with a common text.
The statement described the talks as “intensified and constructive”, said both sides had “ongoing determination” to resolve outstanding issues, and “reiterated the importance of further engagement”.
But there was no hiding that the talks between the two sides are in stasis, with the EU side describing Monday’s meeting as neither a “breakdown” nor a “breakthrough”.
Brussels and London remain far apart on fundamental aspects of the agreement designed to accommodate Brexit while avoiding a hard trade border forming across the island of Ireland.
The British government has called for wide-ranging changes and challenged many of the checks on goods arriving from Britain into Northern Ireland, which have become the focus of ire for unionist politicians.
The EU has offered tweaks including changes to its law to ease the flow of medicines, and a move it says would drastically reduce customs formalities.
But the Commission, and the EU member states behind it, are adamant that the text itself cannot be reopened and renegotiated and insist that the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson should honour an international agreement he negotiated, signed and passed in parliament.
"Ultimately, this is the only way to protect the hard-earned gains of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in all its dimensions, while avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and minimising disruptions caused by Brexit without compromising the integrity of the EU's single market" the EU's point man on the issue Maroš Šefcovic said after the talks.
Both sides appear united for now on their preference to keep the issue calm and avoid it spilling into acrimony in a way that could affect broader political issues, including Western unity regarding the Ukraine crisis, where both the UK and the EU are important players.
UK foreign minister Liz Truss had said ahead of the meeting that there was a need to build a stronger relationship not least one to help a common front in "standing up to Russian aggression".
Equally, the EU indicated it was keen to keep the issue of the protocol low key as Northern Ireland heads for Assembly elections in May, with an official saying the talks would move into a new “discreet” phase.
