UK rebuffed on N. Ireland deal rewrite
The United Kingdom demanded on Wednesday that the European Union agree to rewrite a deal overseeing trade involving Northern Ireland just a year after it was agreed, a call immediately rejected by Brussels.
UK ministers have explained how a Brexit deal agreed last year between London and Brussels must be changed to allow trade to flow more easily between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, which are both parts of the United Kingdom.
David Frost, who was the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, laid out the government’s plans for the Northern Ireland Protocol in Parliament on Wednesday along with Brandon Lewis, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary. They said the agreement Frost negotiated and signed has turned out to be woefully inadequate and unveiled a 28-page document that details how it should be changed.
Frost said the protocol, which was part of the so-called Brexit divorce deal agreed by the two sides as the nation left the European Union, has proved to be unfair and unsustainable.
The Northern Ireland Protocol, as part of the Brexit deal, stipulates Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market and customs union to avoid a hard border between the region and the Republic of Ireland.
Businesses in Northern Ireland say it is damaging trade, and some pro-British groups have protested at what they say is a weakening of ties with Britain, raising concerns about a return to the violence that plagued the province for three decades.
Brussels has repeatedly called on the UK to immediately implement the protocol, and says it is not up for renegotiation. The bloc has also launched legal action against the UK over its alleged failure to do what it said it would do when it signed the deal.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic was clear that the protocol could not be redrawn, saying Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Frost had negotiated it.
“We will not agree to a renegotiation of the protocol,” he said. “Respecting international legal obligations is of paramount importance.”
Frost said he hoped that the EU would study British proposals constructively to find a positive way forward.
On Thursday, Johnson urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to consider seriously its proposals to change the trade deal with Northern Ireland.
Repeated bids
Despite repeated British complaints, the EU has refused to amend the protocol, fearing that the hard-to-police frontier with EU member Ireland could allow goods to enter its single market without meeting its regulatory standards.
“We will continue to engage with the UK, also on the suggestions made today,” Sefcovic said in a statement. “We are ready to continue to seek creative solutions, within the framework of the protocol, in the interest of all communities in Northern Ireland.”
The Press Association said Johnson spoke on the phone with his counterpart in the Republic of Ireland, Micheal Martin, on Tuesday, urging “pragmatism” over the future of the protocol.
The Republic of Ireland has said it is listening to the UK’s concerns.
But the Republic of Ireland’s European affairs minister, Thomas Byrne, said on Radio 4’s Today program: “We’re willing to discuss any creative solutions within the confines of the protocol, but we have to recognize as well that Britain decided itself to leave the single market of the European Union; to apply trade rules; to apply red tape to its goods that are leaving Britain; to goods that are coming into Britain.”