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French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Boris Johnson that efforts to restore relations between Paris and London will fail if the UK Prime Minister does not keep his word on the Northern Ireland Brexit agreement.
At a breakfast on the edge of the G7 summit in Cornwall, Macron made it clear that Johnson hoped Johnson would pay tribute to the Brexit deal he closed with the EU last December.
The EU has threatened to punish Britain – including by imposing trade sanctions – if Johnson unilaterally violates its commitments to control its restrictions on the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit deal.
Macron Downing Street sees him as the EU’s national leader. Arguments between French presidents and British prime ministers are common at world summits – and they often play well at home.
But Macron’s warning underscored the seriousness that the EU exacerbates the crisis in Northern Ireland.
U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed deep concern about the future of the peace process.
At an English-language breakfast meeting, an Elisha source told Macron that Johnson was ready to re-establish relations with London and that Britain and France had many common interests.
“The President, however, strongly stressed that a re-engagement requires the British to keep their promises to the Europeans and to respect the Brexit agreement,” the Elisha source said.
The protocol requires the United Kingdom to check certain goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland without crossing the open border to prevent Ireland from becoming a member of the EU and entering a single market.
The introduction of an effective trade barrier in the territory of the United Kingdom has angered unionists in favor of the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland and increased tensions in the region.
Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that the Good Friday Agreement and peace on the island of Ireland were key.
“We negotiated a protocol that preserves that, signed and ratified by the UK and the EU,” he said. “We want the best possible relationship with the UK. Both sides must implement what we agreed on. The whole of the EU is in it. “
Johnson argues that the EU protocol is uncompromising in its application and that a dispute is looming at the end of the month over controls on refrigerated meat products made across the Irish Sea.
The EU bans the import of chilled meat, including raw meat and minced meat. The “grace period” to continue selling British refrigerated meat products at NI expires at the end of June.
Johnson has reserved the right to set aside the ban in a move that warned the EU and the UK could seek revenge under the Brexit trade and cooperation agreement.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic last week confirmed that trade sanctions could create fears of a trade war or – in the tabloid headlines – a “sausage war”.
Johnson also had talks on Saturday morning with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
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