British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was quoted as saying that current EU proposals “do not adequately address” Northern Ireland’s “real problems”. Further talks should take place on Thursday.
The UK has bluntly rejected EU plans to change special Brexit rules for Northern Ireland. “The current EU proposals do not adequately address the real issues affecting Northern Ireland and would set us back in some cases,” Foreign Minister Liz Truss said, according to British media late on Wednesday. A phone call with EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic is planned for Thursday morning, the EU Commission confirmed.
Truss’s ministry has warned that trade relations could deteriorate and essential goods could disappear from shelves in Northern Ireland. “Prices have gone up, trade has been severely affected and people in Northern Ireland have different laws and taxes than people in the Irish Sea,” Truss said. This is a threat to peace and stability. The London government fears that decades of civil war-like conflicts in Northern Ireland will re-emerge. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously called the situation “very difficult”.
New conversations on Thursday
EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss discuss their tough disputes over Brexit rules for Northern Ireland on Thursday. A phone call is planned for the morning, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday. There will be no renegotiations, confirmed Sefcovic.
London and Brussels have been at loggerheads for months because the British government no longer wants to accept a deal it negotiated on Northern Ireland’s status after Brexit. London is openly threatening to break the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol to the Brexit Treaty, which Johnson himself signed. The protocol aims to avoid border controls with the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and to prevent further conflicts between supporters and opponents of a unification of the two parts of Ireland. Goods must now be checked when they are brought from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. Union supporters fear this will alienate London.
Alert of deterioration of commercial relations
Truss said the EU proposals would result in more controls, bureaucracy and obstacles. “We have always preferred a negotiated solution, but we will not hesitate to take steps to stabilize the situation in Northern Ireland if no solution can be found,” the Foreign Secretary said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Sefcovic warned the UK against unilateral measures. If London breaks protocol, there is also a risk that the Brexit deal will fail – the result would be a trade war. The dispute over the protocol is also jeopardizing the formation of a new regional government in Northern Ireland after last week’s general election. According to the British government, Sefcovic is due to speak again with Foreign Minister Truss on Thursday.
(APA/dpa/Reuters)