[ad_1]
Prime Minister and DUP Leader Arlene Foster has accused the EU of treating Northern Ireland like its toy.
He claimed that Northern Ireland has become a “bargaining chip” in trade talks between the EU and the UK government.
Ms Foster was responding to questions from the Assembly on the controversy surrounding the government’s plan to nullify elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol through national legislation in the form of the Internal Market Act.
She said her hope is that the dispute over the protocol can be eliminated with the establishment of a comprehensive tariff-free free trade agreement between the UK and the EU.
The Prime Minister said she is “surprised” that the UK / EU Joint Committee set up to resolve outstanding issues around the operation of the protocol has yet to resolve the sticking points over state aid and assets at risk.
Ms Foster was specifically asked about a claim by UK lead negotiator Lord Frost that the EU has not provided guarantees that it would grant the UK approved ‘third country’ status to allow it to move goods to market only.
Given that Northern Ireland would remain part of the single market for goods under the terms of the protocol, the UK government has claimed that the EU is essentially threatening to block their goods from entering Northern Ireland.
That claim has been dismissed by EU personalities.
Speaking on the subject in the Assembly, Ms Foster said: “The EU must stop using Northern Ireland to get its way.
“We are not the toy of the European Union and this causes great difficulties here in Northern Ireland when people use Northern Ireland in that way.”
He referenced the then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s use of an old newspaper report on a terrorist attack at the border when he addressed his EU colleagues during the height of withdrawal negotiations in 2018.
“That was wrong too,” he said.
Ms Foster urged the EU / UK Joint Committee to move forward, expressing surprise that there is still a deadlock around the issue of goods being imported into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
“I am surprised that this problem has not yet been solved because it is a very simple issue,” he said.
Ms Foster added: “That should not be used as a bargaining chip, but should be dealt with as quickly as possible.”
On the UK Internal Market Bill, the Prime Minister said: “The UK market is our largest market so it is important that we have unrestricted access to the market and that is what I hope this will achieve. bill”.
He added: “Sometimes when I listen to EU negotiators and they talk about peace in Northern Ireland, apparently it is only if we have free access from north to south, there are very few conversations about access from east to west and therefore Of course, we need it – in a more fundamental way.
“I can understand why the North / South problem was such a big problem, and I admit it, but there were other ways to deal with it.
“Those other ways were despised and not listened to, and sadly now we find ourselves in this situation.
“It must therefore be recognized that the east / west, the integrity of the UK, must be protected as much as having to deal with north / south trade.”
During Assembly Question Time, Ms Foster also discussed the volume of EU exit legislation to be passed in the decentralized legislature in the coming months.
He said three primary legislation bills will be discussed in Assembly and eight in Westminster.
[ad_2]