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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 reported on Thursday.
The government plans 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 are expected to be at the Munich security conference that starts on Friday and could meet on the sidelines.
Sunak’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The two sides have been trying to agree 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.
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Several media reports this month have suggested that the new deal could be announced within weeks.
“I think the speculation is a wee bit ahead of time,” Donaldson told Reuters when asked about the protocol.
(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by William James and Kate Holton)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
