Each side is determined to its position
The EU and the UK are waiting for fruitless talks
The European Union is at odds with London over Northern Ireland.
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Unionists want to modify the protocol.
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Hopes were finally renewed that Brexit talks between Brussels and London could resume after nine months of paralysis, after the Minister in charge of Northern Ireland, Conor Burns, held talks with the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Ševović.
Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin said the deepening row over Brexit arrangements had been (a test and strain) for Anglo-Irish relations, but the arrival of a new prime minister presented an opportunity for a new approach to break the deadlock.
Burns met Sevchovich over the weekend on the sidelines of the British-Irish Association conference at Oxford University and will tell the new prime minister that terms may be suitable for resuming negotiations, which were suspended in February.
"Given today's data, I will certainly send them a letter of recommendation, and that advice would be that I think there may be a desire to do that (negotiations) again," Burns said.
A long-running dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol cut ties with the European Union and led to the near collapse of the Belfast legislature, with the DUP refusing to rejoin the executive government, until the Brexit arrangements are adjusted.
The European Union expects Liz Truss to move forward with the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, after she takes office.
But British sources indicated that even if Article 16, which allows one side to unilaterally suspend the provisions of the Brexit agreement, is triggered, the legislation that would enable the government to repeal part of the protocol will not be discussed in the House of Lords, until mid-May. October at the earliest.
This leaves a window of six weeks, during which preliminary talks can take place.
"The next two weeks will be crucial," Martin told a conference in Oxford early Saturday, and he hoped the new Conservative leader, likely to be Truss, would send a "serious signal" that he wanted to put the row behind him.
Reports that the former minister, Sajid Javid, may be the new Northern Ireland minister were greeted with caution.
However, one British MP said: "Given that (Javed) has previously resigned on principled points, he is unlikely to take the job if he thinks he will have to break international law on Northern Ireland Protocol Act."
Sources in Northern Ireland said the former Conservative leadership candidate, Penny Mordaunt, was a candidate for the position of Northern Ireland minister.
A government official, who preferred not to be identified, said that “proceeding with legislation that cancels the protocol will be seen as a hostile move, but the official does not rule out the possibility of parallel talks, because unilateralism cannot work, but rather reinforces suspicion and mistrust.” The official said, "We believe that there is an opportunity by electing a new prime minister to create an opportunity for a new spirit that allows for negotiations to take place."
Meanwhile, the European Union and the UK government have expressed their determination to resolve the dispute through negotiations, but some have described their statements as a "dialogue of the deaf", with the two sides choosing parallel tracks.
A threat to unity
The Northern Ireland Protocol, concluded to protect the European single market, establishes a customs border in the Irish Sea to keep Northern Ireland in the customs orbit of the European Union, avoid creating a land border between the British Territory (Northern Ireland) and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and protect The "Good Friday" agreement, signed in 1998, ended decades of bloody violence that killed 3,500 people.
But unionists see it as a threat to the province's standing within the United Kingdom, to which they are closely associated.
The Northern Ireland Unionist Party refused to take part in a new government in June, unless the protocol is amended.
The British government, which supports the unionists, announced, in May, its desire to enact legislation to amend the Protocol.
The British government wants to adopt a new system so that traded goods remaining within Britain pass through a "new green channel", freeing them from administrative procedures.
Goods destined for the European Union remain subject to all applicable controls under Union law.
It is noteworthy that Liz Truss, defended her country's position in the face of the European Commission and the Republic of Ireland, when she was leading the negotiations as foreign minister.
Reports that the former minister, Sajid Javid, may be the new Northern Ireland minister have been greeted with caution.
A British government official said that moving forward with legislation repealing the Northern Ireland Protocol would be seen as a hostile move.
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