@EU_Commission and @UKGovTweets agreed on a solution for Northern Ireland. The idea sounds good, but the solutions risk continued political battles due to technical feasibility issues with the customs protocols. A🧵 1/
#Brexit
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264127963668482
The red/green lane idea rests on the assumptions that real-time data sharing will solve all problems. But: such data-driven solutions have been promised for a long time - and they hardly even work in today’s EU customs system. 2/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264130211926016
The EU itself does not have comprehensive, functioning real- time data sharing yet - and customs reform has been discussed for the past 20 years. The EU is preparing yet another revision of its own customs code precisely because it does not have real-time data sharing. 3/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264133999288321
Political agreement is good, but not if the compromise is built on shaky foundations. We are bound for another round of negotiation of the same issues down the road if “green” lanes turn out to be technically unfeasible. 4/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264137254162433
Treating goods bound for NI and to Ireland differently in NI ports invites circumvention. Who can effectively control that goods passing into Ireland actually went through red lanes before? The integrity of the internal market is at risk. 5/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264140198494211
Politically, red lanes should only be allowed to operate once the data solution works - and given the lack of success over the past years, I am not sure today marks the last round of Northern Ireland Protocol discussions. /end
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Andreas_Schwab/status/1630264143310667777