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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has spoken to Boris Johnson and expressed in “direct terms” his concerns about the British move to unilaterally walk away from aspects of the withdrawal agreement signed last year, the government said in a statement tonight.
Mr. Martin described his concerns to Boris Johnson about the “non-compliance with an international treaty, the absence of bilateral engagement and the serious implications for Northern Ireland,” his spokesman said.
“He stressed to the prime minister that the UK government should urgently re-engage with the EU negotiators.”
Earlier in revealing the government’s latest Brexit measures, Martin said he was “extremely concerned” by the apparent British plan to “violate international law” with a new bill amending the Brexit treaty.
“The degree to which it draws Northern Ireland to center stage is very, very regrettable. It has the potential to create divisions in that context, ”Martin told reporters at a news conference in government buildings in Dublin.
The Taoiseach said the timing and one-sided nature of Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State Brandon Lewis’s admission on Tuesday that the new British home market legislation would violate the Brexit treaty “is not an acceptable way to carry conduct negotiations. ”
Lewis told the House of Commons that the internal markets bill to be published on Wednesday will see Britain breach its commitment to the EU.
“This violates international law in a very specific and limited way. We are taking the power not to apply the concept of direct effect of EU law required by Article 4 in certain very strictly defined circumstances, ”he said.
Mr Martin said that admission to the House of Commons had “puzzled a lot of people” across Europe and indeed in the UK “and was not leading to meaningful negotiations.
He said he spoke with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday night about the issue and described the latest events in London as “very worrying”.
“Meaningful negotiations can only proceed on the basis of mutual trust,” he said.
“Unilateral actions that seek to change the operation of measures already agreed upon, included in an international treaty and incorporated into national legislation, do not generate confidence.”
The Taoiseach said Lewis’s admission was “a new starting point” for the British government and raised questions about ongoing negotiations between the EU and the UK to reach a free trade agreement and whether the UK will adhere to a agreement in six or 12 months of time.
The North secretary “did not show any subtlety,” Martin said of Lewis’s comments.
“I have not seen a member of any government walk into parliament and say that we are going to violate international law,” he said.
Martin said he had no illusions that a no-deal Brexit would be “very damaging,” but he still believed that the optimal outcome was a “sound and proper free trade agreement.”
‘Treacherous Albion’
Later at the Dail, Mr. Martin told Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald that the government did not just “react instinctively” when a particular step was taken in international negotiations.
He said: “I will exercise my judgment in terms of how I intervene, when I intervene and the manner of my intervention. “And sometimes it’s not just about picking up the phone because what is at stake here is adherence to an international treaty that Ireland has agreed to.”
Ms. McDonald said that “perfidious Albion is alive and well and lives at 10 Downing Street” and was “alarmed” that the Taoiseach had waited three days to intervene in the matter.
Ms McDonald told the Taoiseach that “diplomatic niceties have to be dispensed with and its position set very clearly.” She said the stakes were high and that they could not afford to have “any hesitation or lack of forcefulness and rigor in dealing with Boris Johnson.”
He also suggested that Mr. Martin was “indulging in illusions” that Mr. Johnson and his government “are not really able to walk away from the commitments they have made.”
Labor leader Alan Kelly also called on the Taoiseach to “stand up and say this for what it is.”
He told the Taoiseach, “I don’t trust Boris Johnson. I know you can’t say that ”, but Mr. Johnson“ would only react to one thing and that is to be publicly criticized ”. Kelly told Martin that he will “do Europe and the world a favor.”
However, Mr Martin said that “it is not for Ireland to get caught up in the problems it has or indeed to become part of the machinations that are going on in terms of these negotiations.”
North Ireland
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned against the potential to undermine the progress made in Northern Ireland with the reestablishment of the power-sharing government.
“I would warn anyone who is thinking of playing politics with Northern Ireland about Brexit again. Northern Ireland is too fragile and too important to be used as a pawn in the broader Brexit negotiations, ”he said.
“Now is not the time to rekindle the disagreements that have been resolved by international agreement and international law. Now is the time to make a trade deal that is good for the UK and good for the EU and Ireland. “
Coveney said the government would normally get “a heads up” from their British counterparts if they announced a new national plan that “may create problems.”
“None of that happened this week,” he said.
He described the events in London as “an extraordinary change in the approach of the UK government”.
“It’s an extraordinary way of trying to close what is a very difficult and sensitive negotiation where trust is the most important component in terms of getting the right result.”
Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that he did not believe that there could be a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU in circumstances where the UK government does not respect the withdrawal agreement.
Varadkar said it was an “extraordinary statement to hear from a cabinet minister in a respected liberal democracy.”
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Varadkar said: “A country either is governed by the rule of law or not, or it respects international treaties and obligations or not; Britain is an honest and honorable country full of honest people, it is the country of Magna Carta, the country that helped defend parliamentary democracy, it is not a rogue state.
‘Extraordinary comments’
He told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that “these were extraordinary comments. It certainly did sound the alarms in Dublin, I think they backfired. We have seen the response from the Northern Ireland parties, which represent the majority of the people in Northern Ireland, which has been very negative, we have seen the response from the European Union, we have seen the response from the US Congress. And from Irish America. .
“I think governments around the world are scratching their heads wondering whether they should enter into treaties or contracts with the British government if that is their attitude.”
Varadkar said that the withdrawal agreement had been ratified by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and also by the European Parliament.
“I think that going back to a year ago, without a doubt the strategy and behavior of the British government was risky, it was one of threat of collapse, ‘if we don’t reach an agreement, we could become kamikaze with you’, what kind of thing.
“I hope this is just another installment of this, that the more benign assessment that this is risky, this is saber rattling if we don’t get a TLC, this is what we will do, that’s my benign interpretation and maybe this is it is only part of the negotiation process to reach a free trade agreement with the EU, but I don’t think we can assume that is that ”, said Tánaiste.
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