Britain rejects EU proposals to resolve dispute over Northern Ireland protocol

Britain on Wednesday rejected European Union proposals to resolve its dispute over trade rules for Northern Ireland under the Brexit deal, while London said it would not hesitate to take immediate action.

The so-called Northern Ireland Protocol was concluded with the consent of the British, with the aim of maintaining peace in Northern Ireland and at the same time protecting the EU single market without the need to impose a harsh land border between the British countryside and Ireland. is a member of the EU, or a border within the United Kingdom. However, it has proved particularly challenging for London, as it has intensified bureaucratic barriers to the UK’s trade with Northern Ireland.

Thus, the government of Boris Johnson has been threatening to reject the protocol for months, a fact that has intensified the UK’s relations with the EU and increases the risk of a trade war between them, in a period of rapidly rising inflation.

Brussels offered to relax customs controls in October, but British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras said the loosening had failed to address the key issue and “in some cases would be a setback”.

“Prices have risen, trade has been severely disrupted and the people of Northern Ireland are governed by different laws and taxes than those in the Irish Sea, which has left the world without a (government) executive and posed a threat to “Peace and stability,” the British Foreign Secretary said in a statement.

Trass added that London wants a negotiated solution, but added that “we will not hesitate to take action to stabilize the situation in Northern Ireland if no solution can be found.”

On Wednesday, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney said the EU would take legal action and likely take countermeasures if London took unilateral action. He added that the news “had a climate” across the EU.

“I hope Westminster decision-makers think that,” he said. “Unilateral action will worsen the situation,” he added.

Johnson noted once again that the particularly important agreement of 1998, which largely put an end to religious violence between Irish nationalists and unionists – which according to London is being undermined by the protocol – is paramount.

“This means that there must be inter-communal support. Obviously, since the Northern Ireland protocol does not achieve that, it must be resolved,” he said during a visit to Sweden on Wednesday.