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Britain has accused Emmanuel Macron and other high-ranking EU officials of talking about Northern Ireland “as if it were somehow a different country”, as tensions in the G7 summit in Cornwall.
Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, have opened a new front in their word war with the EU, stating that it is unwilling to respect the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom.
Despite requests from US President Joe Biden to calm both sides down, the G7 summit has sparked tensions between Britain and the EU over the post-Brexit trade regime in NI.
Raab told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday: “We have seen EU figures in series talking about Northern Ireland as if it were somehow a different country from the UK.
“Not only is it offensive, but it has real effects on the world in NI communities. It creates great concern and great consternation. ”
He asked EU leaders to consider how they would feel if Johnson spoke of Catalonia, Flanders or Corsica as if they were not, respectively, fully integrated parts of Spain, Belgium or France.
“Here we need some respect and, frankly, an assessment of the situation of all the communities in Northern Ireland,” Raab added.
The dispute focuses on the different interpretations in London and the EU of the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the Johnson agreement on Brexit on trade in the region.
To ensure an open border in Ireland, the UK agreed to carry out some controls on behalf of the EU in the ports of Northern Ireland for some goods arriving from Britain.
The aim was to prevent goods from going unchecked, across the open border in Ireland, into the EU’s single market. Britain says the EU wants to impose “draconian” controls; the EU insists it is trying to be pragmatic.
The most imminent turning point in the dispute comes before June 30, when the EU ban on imported chilled meat to New Zealand, which blocks the sale of British sausages and minced meat, is supposed to take effect. beef in the region. During a tense meeting on Saturday, Johnson asked Macron how he would feel if the sale of Toulouse sausages in Paris was banned.
Macron, who spoke English, responded that it was a poor comparison. British officials claimed Macron noted that Toulouse and Paris were part of the same “country”.
An Elysée official clarified that the French president was making a point about geography: “The president said that Toulouse and Paris are in a unique geographical territory. Northern Ireland is on an island. “
The French official added: “He reminded Boris Johnson that leaving the EU was a British decision and that he had to keep his word.”
But Downing Street seized on Macron’s statements as an apparent indication that the French president did not recognize that NI was an integral part of the United Kingdom.
Raab’s allies have declined to say what other “senior EU officials” have made similar comments.
David Frost, the British Brexit minister who attended meetings with EU leaders in Carbis Bay with union jack socks, will now resume negotiations with Maros Sefcovic, his opposite number, to try to find a compromise.
The EU has threatened to impose trade sanctions on the UK if it unilaterally extends the “grace period” covering the export of British chilled meats to Northern Ireland beyond 30 June.
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