Macron Toulouses plot in sausage row
French leader suggests Northern Ireland is not part of UK as he clashes with Boris
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron angered Boris Johnson during a tense standoff over the EU ‘sausage wars’ yesterday by suggesting that Northern Ireland was not part of the UK.
The row over the EU’s insistence on barring chilled meats from crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain has pushed Mr Johnson to the brink of suspending the Northern Ireland Protocol – a key plank of the UK’s post- Brexit trading relations – to stop the ban kicking in when the ‘grace’ period ends in a fortnight.
During their encounter yesterday morning, Mr Johnson asked Mr Macron: ‘How would you like it if the French courts stopped you moving Toulouse sausages to Paris?’ Macron replied that he did not think it was a good comparison because Paris and Toulouse were both part of the same
‘They seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country’
country – to which an irritated Mr Johnson said: ‘Northern Ireland and Britain are part of the same country as well.’ A UK Government source said: ‘He was pretty struck by it, he thought it was highly revealing of the EU’s position.’
After the clash, Mr Johnson announced that the EU should ‘get it into their heads’ that the province was part of the UK, and declared that he did not think that the EU’s insistence on checks – which has also affected the supply of vital pharmaceuticals to Northern Ireland – was ‘sensible or pragmatic’.
He said: ‘I think that the protocol can work if it is sensibly applied. It’s not just a question of chilled meats or sausages, there are all kinds of impediments being constructed, and we need to sort it out. It is up to our EU friends and partners to understand that we will do whatever it takes.
‘I’ve talked to some of our friends here today, who do seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country, a single territory. I just need to get that into their heads.’
The impasse means that the UK is on the brink of invoking Article 16 of the protocol, which allows the EU or UK to unilaterally suspend aspects of its operations if either side considers that aspect to be causing ‘economic, societal or environmental difficulties’.
Mr Johnson, who also held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said: ‘I think if the protocol continues to be applied in this way, then we will obviously not hesitate to invoke Article 16.’ French diplomats said that Mr Macron would veto any fundamental renegotiation of the protocol as ‘not serious’. An EU source said: ‘We have moved on in Europe. The [sausage row] is not something that the people of Europe care about.’ A UK Government source hit back: ‘It doesn’t matter to us whether the people of Europe care about this issue – we care. We want a negotiated solution but time is running out.’ No 10 has rejected an EU ‘compromise’ proposal for Britain to accept ongoing alignment with Brussels rules on the grounds it would make it impossible to strike ambitious trade deals. A source said: ‘That is not going to happen. Boris resigned from Theresa May’s Government over a refusal to follow EU rules. The EU is trying to reinstate the backstop.’
European leaders have warned that unilateral action to suspend the protocol would lead to retaliatory measures, including tariffs.