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Donald Trump’s envoy in Northern Ireland has claimed that the EU could devastate the British aviation industry if Boris Johnson refuses to back down on Brexit. Mick Mulvaney said that Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told him in a private meeting that the EU could make life “very difficult” for the UK. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin was pressured on these claims by Sky News host Adam Boulton.
Boulton said: “One of Donald Trump’s envoys has told reporters that the EU would be willing to use the disruption of air travel as a lever against the UK to try to reach an agreement on the current negotiations. Is that true ? “
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin denied having heard of the possibility of the European Union imposing restrictions on air travel to the UK.
He replied: “I have not heard that discussed in EU council meetings, not even on the sidelines of those meetings.
“I have attended some key EU meetings on Brexit and in my conversations with Michel Barnier, Europe is very focused on the intense negotiations that have been going on for several weeks.”
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Earlier this week, Mulvaney revealed that he left a meeting with Coveney in September with the understanding that the EU could make life “very difficult” for UK airlines seeking access to the continent.
Mulvaney made the extraordinary claim at an Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) webinar.
He said this threat from the EU could be imposed if Boris Johnson refuses to back down on his Brexit demands.
Mulvaney explained that he expressed concern with Coveney that the EU could insist on controls involving the entire island or put “tremendous pressure on the Irish to do something” if Britain and Ireland refuse to impose a border in a Brexit. whitout deal.
Coveney himself was forced to respond to the claims, insisting that the comments he made about aviation in his meeting with Mulvaney “were not a threat.”
A spokesman for the Irish Foreign Minister said the couple had a “broad discussion that included the interdependence between the EU and the UK beyond and despite Brexit; it was in this context that aviation was discussed and not as a threat ”.
This comes as Boris Johnson and the head of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen, plan to hold talks later today ahead of a potentially decisive week in the Brexit negotiations.
The EU’s top negotiator, Michel Barnier, will return to London for trade and security talks on Sunday.
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