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Sunday 04 December 2022 at 1:47 PM

One of Germany’s top diplomats is “cautiously optimistic” about the prospect of a UK-EU deal on a post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, after a thaw in relations.
Germany’s ambassador to Britain, Miguel Berger, said there was now an “openness to engage” from Downing Street and that UK-EU relations had improved since Boris Johnson was ousted.
Both sides agree that checks on goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland need to be reduced in the face of economic and political disruption.
Negotiations have been at an impasse for more than a year, although the mood music from both camps is becoming increasingly positive.
Berger said that “Northern Ireland is the landing zone for the implementation of the Protocol”.
“Finding a solution is possible; The difficult issue is the political reaction of the DUP, the election risk in Northern Ireland is high, so there are many political issues with that, but if we talk about the negotiation process, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic. ” he told Sky News.
When asked if Rishi Sunk has helped thaw relations with Brussels, Berger said: “Yes, I would say Liz Truss has also made some moves towards Europe. She participated in the first meeting of the European Political Community in Prague and the first negotiator under Liz Truss was James Cleverly.
“I would say we see a different trend in general.”
Northern Ireland still adheres to the EU’s customs union and single market rules, unlike the rest of the UK, meaning goods crossing the Irish Sea need to be inspected.
Part of the unionist community is angry that the protocol effectively separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
This led to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refusing to sit in Northern Ireland’s regional assembly, with its leaders calling for the protocol to be scrapped entirely.
The UK wants to completely rewrite the Brexit treaty, while the EU wants to change the way it is implemented.
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