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EU capitals have responded to comments from British Brexit Minister Lord David Frost suggesting that the bloc needed more engagement on Northern Ireland, in a sign of growing tension ahead of EU-UK high-level meetings this week.
Frost, writing to Financial Times on Sunday, he called on the EU to show “common sense” and soften controls on the trade border between Northern Ireland and Britain, while criticizing what it said was the bloc’s “legal purism”.
“The EU needs a new game book to deal with neighbors,” Frost wrote, adding that he expects to “see progress” in the meetings taking place in London on Wednesday with EU Brexit Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
But comments have been poorly received in the EU, which argues that it has been working hard to address the difficulties facing businesses and people in Northern Ireland due to the post-Brexit customs and veterinary border between the region and Great Britain. Brittany.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Twitter that Frost “remains guilty of the protocol’s difficulty due to the EU’s inflexibility. This is simply not the case.”
Noting that the EU side has “constantly proposed new solutions,” Coveney said, “Is it media messaging in the UK or solving problems together?”
France’s European Minister Clément Beaune also responded to Frost’s comments, saying that the post-Brexit system of trade agreements for Northern Ireland (which was created to avoid a hard border on the island itself) “does not can be questioned “.
The Northern Ireland protocol set out in the Brexit treaty with the UK over the EU “is not the problem. It is the solution to a problem we have not created,” Beaune said.
The fight against channels underscores the difficult conversations ahead about protocol. Boris Johnson designed the system with the EU during the 2019 negotiations, but the real-world difficulties caused by the agreements have become a political pain in the region.
Britain has blamed the EU’s legal inflexibility, arguing that controls are important to protect its own internal market from fraud and smuggling.
Brussels, in turn, has focused on the UK’s refusal to sign a veterinary agreement in Switzerland with the EU that would eliminate the need for many controls. EU officials have also complained about Britain’s slow progress in meeting its obligations, including providing real-time access to customs data.
Everyday problems with the protocol have ranged from legal issues with the delivery of generic drugs to administrative barriers to traveling with guide dogs, as well as more general issues around the paperwork needed to transport food and live animals.
The EU side has insisted in recent days that it is doing everything it can, including “creativity” around the protocol, to try to find solutions to problems on the ground.
Sefcovic has highlighted efforts to facilitate travel between Britain and Northern Ireland for guide dogs and reduce heavy labeling mechanisms for live animals.
EU officials also point to Brussels’ efforts to find a solution to medicines, where the problem stems from EU rules on regulatory clearances needed for pharmaceutical companies to sell these products in the single market, including in Ireland. of the North.
But Brussels has become increasingly frustrated with what it considers Britain’s slowness in addressing the EU’s concerns.
“Patience is gone,” an EU official said on Friday. “We have been working hard behind the scenes to find creative solutions, but we need the UK side to adhere to their side of the negotiation: we need trust. Trust is the prerequisite for us to come up with new solutions.”
EU diplomats and the European Commission are due to discuss preparations for this week’s talks with Frost at a meeting of the UK bloc’s working group this afternoon.
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