Britain: Johnson promotes Northern Ireland Protocol bypass plan

Britain is expected to present a plan today that would circumvent some of the rules contained in the Northern Ireland Trade Protocol, a move that is expected to increase tensions in London’s relations with the European Union and could even lead to in a trade war.

The British Prime Minister tried to downplay the issue on Monday, talking only about “bureaucratic simplifications”.

“It’s relatively simple to do that, it’s a bureaucratic change that needs to be made. It’s really a relatively insignificant package,” Johnson told LBC Radio, dismissing critics who argued the law would violate international law.

“All we are trying to do is have some bureaucratic simplifications between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” he added.

In fact, Johnson was quick to condemn any talk of a trade war of retaliation in advance, saying it would be “a harsh, very harsh overreaction.”

The British plan is expected to be presented later today in the British Parliament by Foreign Secretary Liz Trass, who today had a communication on the issue with the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Sefsovic.

“I spoke to (European Commission) Vice-President Maro Sefsovich to discuss the legislation we are announcing today to resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol and restore political stability,” Tras said in a Twitter post.

“We prefer a negotiated solution but the EU must be willing to change the Protocol.”

Britain has been threatening for months to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement on the British countryside reached by the Johnson’s government to secure a divorce from the EU and a broader trade agreement between Brussels and London.

As part of the agreement, Northern Ireland remained essentially in the EU ‘s single goods market to maintain an open border with Ireland, an EU member state that was key to a 1998 peace agreement.

But this has led to customs controls on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland, something that pro-British communities in Northern Ireland say is eroding their position in the UK.

Dublin: UK’s unilateral approach not in Northern Ireland’s interest

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney told his British counterpart Liz Tras today that her plans to bypass parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol would create a new set of uncertainties.

“The publication of legislation that violates the United Kingdom’s commitments under international law is having a profound effect on relations between these islands and between the United Kingdom and the European Union,” Cowney said in a statement. telephone communication of the two ministers.

“Secretary Covenant has said that this marks a particularly bad moment in the UK’s approach to Brexit … The UK’s unilateral approach is not in the interests of Northern Ireland. new uncertainties and damage “.