DUBLIN: British and European Union negotiators resumed talks over Brexit yesterday with the two sides still deadlocked over the future status of the Irish border. Both London and Brussels regard resolving the issue as central to hammering out a wider deal on the UK-EU relationship after Brexit takes place next March. Following an Easter break, the two sets of officials sat down to discuss ways of avoiding a “hard border” when it becomes a frontier between the UK and the EU. Five weeks have been set aside for this round of talks before Olly Robbins, the Prime Minister’s Europe adviser, and the EU’s deputy negotiator Sabine Weyand review progress.
Although Theresa May has insisted last month’s transition deal had injected a “new dynamic” into the search for “workable solutions”, but EU sources insist that little progress is being made. Yesterday’s talks focused on the position of EU citizens in Northern Ireland after Brexit and negotiations will turn next week to the future relationship between the North and the Republic of Ireland.
