Johnson and Raabe open a new front in the Northern Ireland word war
[ad_1]
Britain accuses Emmanuel Macron and other important EU figures of talking about Iman Ireland “as if it were somehow another country” when Brexit tensions erupted again G7 summit Cornish.
Boris Johnson and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab have opened a new front word war with the EU, Saying it is not ready to respect the territorial integrity of the UK.
Despite US President Joe Biden calling for both sides to calm the line, the G7 summit has heightened tensions between Britain and the EU over the post-Brexit trade regime in the US.
Raab told Andrew Marr on the BBC on Sunday: “We have seen the main EU figures in the series talk about Northern Ireland as if it were another country in the UK.
“Not only is it offensive, it has real consequences for NI communities. It creates a great deal of concern and consternation.”
He asked EU leaders how they would feel if Johnson spoke about Catalonia, Flanders or Corsica, as if they were not parts of Spain, Belgium or the whole of France, respectively.
“We need a little bit of respect here and we also need to respect the situation for all the communities in Northern Ireland,” Raabe added.
The conflict in London and the EU is based on different interpretations of the Northern Ireland protocol, part of Johnson’s Brexit agreement on regional trade.
In order to make the border open in Ireland, the UK agreed to carry out certain controls in the ports of Northern Ireland on behalf of the EU for certain goods from Great Britain.
The aim was to stop uncontrolled goods in the EU market through the Irish open border. Britain says the EU wants to impose “draconian” controls. The EU emphasizes that it tries to be pragmatic.
The most likely moment of the conflict will come before June 30 when the EU ban on cold meat imports will enter into force, blocking the sale of British sausages and minced meat in the region. At a tense meeting on Saturday, Johnson asked Macron how he would feel if selling Tolosa sausages in Paris were banned.
Macron, speaking in English, replied that it was a poor comparison. British officials said Macron was from the same “country” as Toulouse and Paris.
An Elysee official clarified that the French president was making a point about geography: “The president has said that Toulouse and Paris are in a single geographical territory. Northern Ireland is on an island. “
The French official added: “He reminded Boris Johnson that leaving the EU was a British decision and that he had to respect his word.”
But Downing Street embraced Macron’s remarks as an indicator that the French president did not recognize NI as a component of the United Kingdom.
Raab’s allies do not mean that “other top EU figures” have made similar remarks.
David Frost, the UK’s Brexit minister, wearing union socks to attend a meeting with EU leaders in Carbis Bay, will now begin negotiations with Maros Sefcovic, the number against him, to try to find a compromise.
The EU has threatened to impose trade sanctions on the UK if it unilaterally extends the “grace period” covering the export of British cold meat to Northern Ireland beyond 30 June.
[ad_2]
Source link