[ad_1]
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney dismissed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claims as “totally untrue” as tensions between the EU and the UK escalated this weekend.
Coveney said the UK was damaging its international reputation when it criticized Johnson’s “twist” by claiming that Europe could impose a “blockade” between Britain and Northern Ireland.
The minister also dismissed Johnson’s claims that controversial legislation introduced by his government in Westminster last week, which will depart from parts of the withdrawal treaty agreed with the EU last year, was necessary to prevent a “foreign power” “broke into the UK.”
Johnson’s claims were “absolutely false,” Coveney told This Week on RTÉ Radio 1.
Earlier, the EU’s main Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, also questioned the British prime minister’s statements.
In a tweet, Barnier said the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland “is not a threat to the integrity of the UK. We make this delicate commitment with Boris Johnson and his government to protect peace and stability on the island of Ireland. We couldn’t have been clearer about the consequences of Brexit. “
Mr. Barnier went on to say that “sticking to the facts is essential too.” He said the EU does not refuse to list the UK as a “third country”, the source of Johnson’s claim of a “blockade” of Northern Ireland.
“To be on the list, we need to know in full what the rules of a country are, even for imports. The same objective process applies to all countries included in the list, ”he said.
‘No warranty’
Soon after, however, British chief negotiator David Frost responded on Twitter, saying that the EU is well aware of the UK’s rules on food standards because it currently enforces EU rules.
“Any changes in the future will be notified to the WTO and the EU in the usual way with a long waiting time. The EU lists dozens of countries globally on precisely this basis, without any compromise on the future, “he said.
Lord Frost also said that it had been made clear to the UK in the negotiations “that there is no guarantee that we will be on the list. I am afraid that we have also been explicitly told in these conversations that if we are not on the list we will not be able to move food to Northern Ireland ”.
“The EU position is that the listing is necessary only for Great Britain, not for Northern Ireland. So if GB were not on the list, it would automatically be illegal for NI to import food products from GB, ”he said. “I hope the EU thinks better of it.”
On the Northern Ireland protocol, Lord Frost agreed with Barnier that the two parties had “negotiated a careful balance to preserve the peace and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement”.
However, he said the UK government needed “standby powers” – that is, the power to override the withdrawal treaty – to ensure that the balance was maintained.
The Irish government previously rejected claims that the EU could block goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, insisting on Sunday that there will be no return from a hard border on the island of Ireland.
As the EU was facing another crisis in negotiations with the UK when it left the bloc, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a no-deal Brexit would be “ruinous” for the British economy and extremely damaging to jobs.
The IE / NI protocol is not a threat to the integrity of the UK. We agree to this delicate commitment with @BorisJohnson and his government to protect peace and stability on the island of Ireland. We could not have been clearer about the consequences of #Brexit [1/2]
– Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) September 13, 2020
Mr Coveney said there may be “limited controls” on goods coming from Britain to the region because there is an agreement to avoid the need for physical infrastructure at the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
The measures were planned to stop the passage of goods from England, Scotland or Wales to the Republic through Northern Ireland without tariffs if a broader agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom is not reached.
Mr. Coveney said: “No blockade is proposed.
“That’s the kind of inflammatory language that comes from the number 10, which is a twist and not the truth.”
Keeping the border open has complicated negotiations on the EU’s withdrawal.
In an inflammatory article for The Telegraph, Johnson said Brussels threatened to use an “extreme interpretation” of the Northern Ireland Protocol, contained in the withdrawal agreement, to impose “a large-scale trade border in the Irish Sea” that it could stop the transport of food from Britain to Northern Ireland.
No hard edge
The British government’s new UK internal market bill has been immediately embroiled in controversy over its impact on talks with the EU and on international treaties. It could rewrite parts of last year’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in relation to all of Ireland’s trade provisions.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “absolutely no” when told that Ireland faced a tough border in light of controversy over Britain’s plan to introduce legislation to revoke sections of the withdrawal agreement. He said the EU would have a “very measured, firm and strategic” response to this.
“Politicians in Britain, Ireland and Europe have only one duty: to protect the people we serve, to protect their livelihoods and their jobs.
Mr. Martin said that Mr. Johnson “and politicians in Britain, Ireland and Europe have only one obligation: to protect the people we serve, to protect their livelihoods and their jobs.
“Playing politics with this is simply not an option in terms of the very serious implications for political decisions in people’s everyday lives.”
Mr. Martin said that Mr. Johnson is “creating claims that are in no way connected to the reality contained in the withdrawal protocol or agreement.”
And he rejected Johnson’s claims to his MPs that the EU is trying to divide the UK. Mr. Martin said of Johnson that “he knows very well that is not the case. The protocol was negotiated for more than two years ”.
Extraordinary behavior
Coveney previously told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that a post-Brexit trade deal was still possible.
He said: “The British government is behaving in an extraordinary way and the British should know that, because outside of Britain the reputation of the UK as a reliable negotiating partner is being damaged.”
Today, the UK is part of the European Single Market, with regulations and standards jointly agreed upon across the continent.
After Brexit, the UK government wants to continue to have a joint market in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, known as the home market.
That means regulations on things like food standards and animal welfare are set in the UK instead of Brussels.
Northern Ireland was to remain part of the bloc for commercial purposes unless a broader trade agreement was reached with the EU.
That means Northern Ireland must continue to follow Brussels standards to avoid tariffs on all islands’ trade and keep the free-flow border of goods open with the Republic of Ireland, its EU neighbor.
The government has said that the British government’s plans pose a “grave risk” to the peace process amid the acrimony in the negotiations.
Coveney said: “Both the British and Irish economies will be significantly damaged and that will be a significant political failure, or nothing else.”
He added: “It is possible to reach an agreement, it will probably be a fairly thin basic agreement.”
The European Commission has given the UK until the end of the month to repeal legislation allowing ministers to override the provisions of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland.
After a stormy meeting in London on Thursday, the commission warned that the UK was putting trade talks at risk and said it would “not be shy” in taking legal action.
Johnson’s official spokesman, however, reiterated the government’s position that the provisions of the UK Internal Market Act remained “critical” to the preservation of the Northern Ireland peace process.
On Sunday, Martin spoke with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who heads the EU heads of state. Mr Martin said the EU27 was united in calling for full implementation of the Northern Ireland Withdrawal Agreement / Protocol. “Laws and international agreements must be respected.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s TD Matt Carthy said the release of the UK legislation brought closer the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
He said people in the North should be allowed to “have a say in the union they want to be part of”, whether it is part of the EU through a united Ireland or the UK. Independent TD Verona Murphy said they should see the UK approach as “not bluffing”, adding that the British approach was “Trumpism”. – Additional reporting PA
[ad_2]