EU proposals on Northern Ireland must go further to resolve dispute: Brexit minister

Fears that the United Kingdom is heading for a trade war with the EU has been triggered by strong indications from the Johnson administration that proposals to be unveiled over the Brexit arrangement does not go far enough. According to The Guardian, Brexit minister Lord Frost is expected to use his speech in Portugal to call for “significant changes” to the post-Brexit agreement he negotiated, including over the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). On Tuesday, UK’s Brexit minister will warn that the EU must go further than scrapping its prohibition on British sausages to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol. 

Frost’s warning will come a day before the EU is expected to reveal plans to resolve issues with the NI protocol. On the other hand, the European Union is likely to propose that chilled meats can continue crossing the Irish Sea from Britain after the end of current grace periods.  However, Frost is expected to use his speech in Portugal to warn that compromises must go far further than this to address issues such as the role of ECJ in NI. Frost is expected to tell the diplomatic community in Lisbon that the EU needs to show “ambition and willingness” to tackle fundamental issues at the heart of the NI protocol head-on. He will warn that the protocol will never have the support it needs to survive without new arrangements in this area. 

Northern Ireland Protocol 

It is to mention that the NI protocol was negotiated to avoid a hard border with Ireland, by keeping Northern Ireland in the European Union’s single market for goods. However, unionists have been pressuring for it to be removed because of the trade barriers it has created on products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain. On Tuesday, Frost will, therefore, share a new legal text with the European Commission in a bid to propose the “foundation” for a new NI protocol to support the Good Friday Agreement. 

Meanwhile, according to reports, on Wednesday, the EU’s Brexit commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, will table four papers on the subject of how the NI protocol can be improved. Šefčovič is expected to propose a “national identity” exemption for British sausages from the EU’s prohibition on prepared meat from a third country. He is also expected to propose eliminating checks on goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland, with checks only on those products that are intended for sale in the republic.

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