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Brussels has warned that it is ready to intensify retaliation against the United Kingdom if Boris Johnson further delays the implementation of the two-party agreement on Northern Ireland, in another sign of strained relations ahead of talks this week.
EU Brexit Commissioner Maros Sefcovic wrote in the Daily Telegraph, warned that “unilateral action” by the UK to ease the requirements of post-Brexit trade agreements for Northern Ireland would be met with a firm response.
“The EU will not be shy in reacting quickly, firmly and resolutely to ensure that the UK fulfills its obligations under international law,” Sefcovic wrote, urging joint solutions to the irritants that have emerged with post-Brexit trade rules. since they were applied in Northern Ireland earlier this year.
Sefcovic’s comments are the latest intervention in poor quality trade between the EU and the UK in recent days over who is to blame for the difficulties experienced with the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which preserves trade open on the island of Ireland by requiring regulatory controls on goods between the region and Britain. Irritants have ranged from obstacles to the distribution of medicines to new and heavy paperwork for the importation of food and live animals.
Both Brussels and London are also aware that time is pressing to find solutions, given the imminent expiration of a grace period to allow the import of sausages and other chilled meats from Britain into Northern Ireland, the exemption of the usual EU requirement to freeze these products. when they enter the blog, it will expire in late June.
Sefcovic said he hoped the two sides could rebuild co-operation for the protocol at London’s Wednesday meetings with his UK counterpart Lord David Frost. “It is clear that this week will be decisive in consolidating confidence between the European Union and the United Kingdom,” he wrote.
George Eustice, Secretary of the Environment, said he believed US President Joe Biden would appreciate it being unacceptable for there to be a ban on moving chilled meats between Britain and Northern Ireland, just as he would not accept this ban on meat movements between Texas and California.
Eustice told the BBC that the ban was a “bewilderment” and said he believed Biden, who arrives in Britain on Thursday ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall, would see that there were two sides to the argument over the protocol. NI.
Johnson discussed the situation yesterday in a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, and the British Prime Minister stressed “that both the UK and the EU have a responsibility to find solutions to address the problems with the protocol,” according to the reading UK official of the call.
Frost earlier this week accused the EU of “legal purism” in its demands on how the protocol should be applied. The EU has said Britain is not implementing basic parts of the new agreements, such as building and properly equipping border checkpoints and sharing data with Brussels.
“We see numerous and fundamental gaps in the implementation of the UK,” Sefcovic wrote.
An EU official said on Monday that Brussels’ efforts to convince the UK in action had not worked despite the bloc initiating legal action against London earlier this year for delaying the implementation of some rules. protocol.
“The infringement procedure we started in March and the arbitration procedure, which is based on what we consider to be a lack of good faith on the part of the United Kingdom, have not proved to be sufficient and we must therefore consider other tools “. said the official.
Options for Brussels could include halting co-operation in areas of UK interest: Diplomats have pointed out that access to the financial services market is an obvious candidate.
“If we really believe in the Good Friday Agreement, as the British government does, and in peace in Northern Ireland, that means we need to make the NI protocol work properly,” Eustice said.
“We will work with the EU trying to find solutions to this.” He added: “We want to work with the EU in a sensible way.”
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