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LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen are as a result of meet, the 2 sides stated Sunday, with expectations excessive they may seal a deal to resolve a thorny post-Brexit commerce dispute.

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In a joint assertion the U.Okay. and the EU stated European Fee President von der Leyen will journey to Britain on Monday so the leaders can work in direction of “shared, sensible options for the vary of advanced challenges across the Protocol on Eire and Northern Eire.”

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U.Okay. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab stated earlier Sunday that the 2 sides have been on the “cusp” of hanging an settlement.

The announcement comes after months of bitter wrangling over commerce guidelines, referred to as the Northern Eire Protocol, that has soured U.Okay.-EU relations, sparked the collapse of the Belfast-based regional authorities and and threatened to set again the area’s decades-old peace course of.

Northern Eire is the one a part of the U.Okay. that shares a border with an EU member, the Republic of Eire. When the U.Okay. left the bloc in 2020, the 2 sides agreed to maintain the Irish border freed from customs posts and different checks as a result of an open border is a key pillar of Northern Eire’s peace course of.

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As an alternative there are checks on some items getting into Northern Eire from the remainder of the U.Okay. That angered British unionist politicians, who insist that the brand new commerce border undermines Northern Eire’s place in the UK.

U.Okay. and EU negotiators have been inching in direction of an answer for weeks, however any cope with the bloc is a political quandary for Sunak. Hints of compromise in direction of the EU have sparked opposition from hard-line euroskeptics in Sunak’s governing Conservative Social gathering, together with certainly one of his predecessors as prime minister, Boris Johnson.

The Democratic Unionist Social gathering, Northern Eire’s major British unionist drive, additionally has warned it’ll oppose any deal that doesn’t meet its demand for “important, substantive change” to the Brexit treaty between the U.Okay. and the EU.

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Observe AP’s protection of Brexit at https://apnews.com/hub/brexit and of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/british-politics