UK warns EU This Thursday May 12 that they have no choice but to act if the bloc “does not demonstrate the flexibility necessary to help resolve” the problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

According to a UK government statement, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic during a telephone conversation.

British officials told Sefcovic that “the UK’s priority is to protect peace and stability in Northern Ireland and that the Northern Ireland Protocol has been the biggest obstacle to forming the Northern Ireland Executive.”

He further stressed that “the current situation causes unacceptable trade disruptions and has created a two-tier system where people in Northern Ireland are not treated in the same way as everyone else in the UK.”

According to the statement, Truss stressed the importance of upholding the 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and that the European Commission “has a responsibility to demonstrate more pragmatism and ensure that the Protocol fulfills its original purpose.”

He also reiterated the UK’s proposal to “improve the Protocol” and stressed, “why the EU proposal will make us back off, by making more checks and documents.”

See also: UK considers EU offer ‘insufficient’ to solve problems in Northern Ireland

Meanwhile, Sefcovic reiterated the bloc’s official stance on the issue, saying “there is no room to expand the EU’s negotiating mandate or put forward new proposals to reduce the overall level of trade friction.”

“The Secretary of State noted this with regret, saying that the situation in Northern Ireland is a matter of internal peace and security for the UK, and if the EU does not show flexibility to help resolve that issue, then, as any responsible government would do, nothing. choice but to act,” the statement said.

The Northern Ireland Protocol requires border control of any animal and plant products, including frozen meat and processed meat products before being transported to Northern Ireland, in line with EU rules and regulations. .

The protocol created a de facto trade border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain.

The UK left the bloc on January 31, 2020 as a result of the 2016 referendum ending the country’s more than 40 years of membership in the European bloc. What came to be known as Brexit.

The agreements signed by the parties include the Northern Ireland Protocol, which in practice avoids the hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

See also: EU will not ‘renegotiate Northern Ireland protocol’, says European Commission Vice President

The Democratic Union of Northern Ireland (DUP), which lost the seat of the country’s biggest party last week following Sinn Fein’s historic victory in Assembly elections, said it would not participate in the new Executive unless protocol was improved.

The DUP backed the first Boris Johnson government, which sealed Brexit, the EU Withdrawal Agreement and additional protocols in Northern Ireland.

However, the DUP claims that the protocol sets Northern Ireland apart from the rest of the United Kingdom, an idea that has also been expressed by the central government since Brexit.



*Aicha Sandoval Alaguna contributed to writing this article.

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