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Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has described reports that the UK will attempt to nullify elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol through upcoming legislation as “a very reckless way to proceed”.
Coveney was responding to a Financial Times report that British legislation released this week “will remove the legal force from parts of the withdrawal agreement” in areas including state aid and the new customs agreements for Northern Ireland.
In a statement tonight, the UK government said it was working with the European Union to resolve what it called “unfinished business” around the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Without making an explicit reference to the Financial Times report or specifying what the outstanding issues were, the statement said that if those issues were not resolved “… As a responsible government, we are considering rollback options in case this is not achieved to ensure the protection of the communities of Northern Ireland “.
High-level government sources would not rely on the Financial Times report, with one source speculating that it was part of an increase in “noise” by the UK as future relationship negotiations enter a critical phase.
The source said it hoped the European Commission’s Brexit Working Group would seek clarification on the report.
Citing three Whitehall sources, the report claims that sections of the upcoming Internal Market Act would undermine key provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
These include the possible leveling of tariffs on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, as well as the possibility that the EU state aid law continue to come to the UK if the UK government subsidizes companies with major subsidiaries in Northern Ireland.
The report claims that “internal market clauses and finance bills will force UK courts to follow the new UK law rather than the EU agreement, diluting the protocol’s ability to meddle in politics UK State Aid “.
The newspaper quoted a source as saying that the force of the new legislation had been approved by the UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, who “had personally pushed the decision to take the ‘nuclear option’ of overwriting the withdrawal agreement, to despite progress made in talks on implementation of the Irish protocol. “
Reaction to the report has been swift.
Northern Ireland Deputy Prime Minister and Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill said on social media: “As the Brexit negotiations between the EU and the British government enter their eighth round this week in London, any Threat of pushback in the Irish protocol would represent a treacherous betrayal inflicting irreversible damage to the economy of the whole of Ireland, and [Good Friday Agreement]. “
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney also issued his reaction on Twitter, saying: “This would be a very reckless way to proceed.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “If true, this could lead to a hard border in Ireland and undermine decades of progress.
How could a country reach an agreement with Great Britain if it is willing to break an international treaty? “
The report coincided with a combative statement by the British Prime Minister saying that if there was no agreement between the EU and the UK before an EU summit on October 15, then a free trade agreement was unlikely “and both we should accept it and move on. “
Johnson added: “Then we will have a trade deal with the EU like Australia’s.
I want to make it absolutely clear that, as we have said from the beginning, it would be a good result for the UK.
As a government we are preparing, at our borders and in our ports, to be prepared for this.
We will have full control over our laws, our rules and our fishing waters.
We will have the freedom to make trade agreements with all the countries of the world.
And as a result, we will prosper mightily. “
What British ministers sometimes refer to as an “Austrian” style free trade agreement is generally taken as a “no-deal” outcome, as both the EU and the UK negotiate on WTO terms.
Mr Johnson said: “Even at this last stage, if the EU is ready to rethink its current positions and accept this, I will be delighted.
But we cannot and we will not compromise the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country to achieve this. “
Future negotiations between the EU and the UK have been stalled for months on fisheries, the issue of state aid and the so-called level playing field, police and judicial cooperation, and how both sides would resolve disputes in the future.
The prime minister made no reference to the Northern Ireland Protocol in his statement.
Both teams of negotiators will meet in London on Tuesday for the next full round of negotiations.
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has set an October 31 deadline for the deal.
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