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Boris Johnson has called for “urgent action” from the EU to resolve the “outstanding issues” with the post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.
The prime minister accused Brussels of having “undermined” and “caused concern” over the Northern Ireland Protocol, following the recent dispute over COVID vaccines.
But he promised that Northern Ireland’s place in the UK will be “protected and strengthened.”
Johnson spoke ahead of talks scheduled for Wednesday between Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster and Vice Minister Michelle O ‘ Neill.
Gove and Sefcovic are co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee, which is responsible for overseeing and implementing the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, including the Protocol.
The discussions will take place amid continued tensions over the Protocol, which has also seen Ms Foster’s Democratic Unionist Party reaffirm its opposition to the EU-UK deal.
The Prime Minister posted on Twitter: “Our commitment to the people of Northern Ireland and our Union is unwavering.
“Recent moves by the EU have undermined the Protocol and understandably raised concerns.
“Let me underline that, now and in the future, Northern Ireland’s place in the UK will be protected and strengthened.
“What is needed is urgent EU action to resolve outstanding issues with the Protocol’s implementation, in order to preserve the benefits of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and to ensure that Northern Ireland benefits from Brexit like any other party. from our UK. “
Last week, the EU controversially attempted, and subsequently abandoned, an effort to activate article 16 of the Protocol, a means of invalidating part of the Brexit agreement, as part of its export controls plan for COVID vaccines.
Arlene Foster’s DUP has launched a new effort to ‘break free from the Protocol’
Meanwhile, post-Brexit border inspections have been suspended at two of Northern Ireland’s busiest ports due to staff safety fears following recent threats.
Police have said that loyalist paramilitaries are not involved in threats made to workers conducting border checks, but that those responsible may be disgruntled individuals or small groups.
The DUP reiterated its condemnation of the threats on Tuesday night, but also launched a new effort to be “released from the Protocol.”
They have been constant critics of the deal, due to what they see as the imposition of a new economic barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The Protocol was designed as a means to ensure that there was no firm border on the island of Ireland and thus allows Northern Ireland to remain under some EU rules.
But this means that there must be customs declarations on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, including checks on some products.
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Irish border ‘damage caused’ by the EU
Businesses have blamed new post-Brexit requirements for recent shortages of some products in Northern Ireland supermarkets.
The DUP said that Northern Ireland “is already experiencing real economic and social difficulties as a result of the first month of the Protocol.”
And they urged people to sign a UK parliamentary petition online calling for the UK government itself to activate Article 16 as a means to “immediately remove any barriers to unrestricted trade” between Northern Ireland and Britain.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Gove said there were “significant problems” with the Protocol’s implementation that “he would not describe as initial problems.”
He called for the grace period of the soft regulation to be extended to three months for supermarkets after the end of the Brexit transition.
“We need to make sure that supermarkets and other traders can continue, as they are at the moment, to be able to supply consumers with the goods they need,” Gove told MPs.
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