Status: 07/21/2021 4:56 p.m.
For months, the British government and the EU have been fighting over customs controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This was agreed in the Brexit agreement. Now London wants to suspend the controls – and renegotiate.
Great Britain has called for new negotiations in the dispute with the European Union over how to deal with Northern Ireland after Brexit. “We cannot go on like this,” said Brexit Minister David Frost in front of Parliament in London. He called for a temporary suspension of the rules set out in the Brexit Agreement as the Northern Ireland Protocol. Such a moratorium should buy time to negotiate “important changes” to the tariff agreements, said Frost.
Northern Ireland is part of the EU internal market – despite Brexit
The background to this is the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of the Brexit Agreement – the content of which the British government itself agreed with the EU. There it is stated that Northern Ireland – although it belongs to the United Kingdom – continues to follow the rules of the EU internal market.
Great Britain is therefore obliged to carry out goods controls in the Irish Sea. This makes trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK difficult – the controls cause delivery delays and goods bottlenecks, for example.
Northern Ireland Protocol creates tension
The regulation enables the EU to protect its internal market and at the same time prevents a customs border with goods controls between Northern Ireland and the EU member Republic of Ireland. If there were, the conflict in the former civil war region is expected to flare up again.
The majority Catholic supporters of union with the Republic of Ireland insist on an open border with the neighbor. The pro-British and mostly Protestant unionists in Northern Ireland, however, criticize the fact that the protocol creates a de facto maritime border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. They fear that this will pave the way for a reunification of Northern Ireland with Ireland.
Burdens unevenly distributed?
Brexit Minister Frost said of the experience with the arrangements agreed in the Brexit agreement with the EU: “While we have tried to implement the protocol, it has become clear that its burdens have become a source of significant and ongoing damage to life and livelihood . ” Also, EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice should no longer play a role in monitoring compliance with the agreement.
Great Britain does not want to terminate the Northern Ireland Protocol immediately: the conditions for a unilateral termination are in place. But now is not the right time for it, said the Brexit Minister. Instead, a “new balance for the good of all” should be found through negotiations with the EU. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said some parts of the protocol could be kept.
There was initially no reaction from the EU. Brussels accuses the UK government of not properly implementing the protocol. London, on the other hand, accuses the EU Commission of interpreting the agreement too petty.
Most recently, the EU extended an exemption for meat products during customs controls by three months until September 30th.