LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are due to speak before the end of the week about a new Northern Ireland protocol deal, The Times and Reuters report on Thursday.
The UK Government is planning to put the text of the Northern Ireland protocol agreement before Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Monday before it is shown to Sunak's cabinet of senior ministers on Tuesday, the report said.
Sunak and von der Leyen will be at the Munich security conference on Friday and are expected to meet bilaterally on the sidelines.
Sunak's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The two sides have been trying to agree on a deal to resolve post-Brexit trade issues in Northern Ireland.
However, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said on Wednesday that speculation that the dispute was close to being resolved was premature. "I think the speculation is a wee bit ahead of time," Donaldson told Reuters when asked about the protocol.
Last month Britain and the EU agreed a way forward on sharing live data, a step towards resolving the protocol issue.
Another major issue in talks is whether the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will have a role in trade disputes between the EU and UK. Several media reports this month have suggested that the new deal could be announced within weeks.
– Reuters.
