Sunday, January 09, 2022
Sharp notes to Northern Ireland
British minister threatens Brexit emergency brake
The British Foreign Minister is taking a sharper pace in the Brexit dispute over Northern Ireland. Before a first meeting with her EU colleague, Truss announces that she will not shy away from the emergency clause either. The European Court of Justice should also have nothing more to say on this question.
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss was adamant in the dispute over Northern Ireland before her first meeting with EU Brexit representative Maros Sefcovic. She was ready to trigger the emergency clause of Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol and thus to override parts of the Brexit agreement between Brussels and London, wrote Truss in a guest post in the “Sunday Telegraph”.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. It regulates that Northern Ireland – unlike England, Scotland and Wales – continues to follow the rules of the EU internal market and the customs union. This avoids a hard border with the EU member Republic of Ireland, which would lead to new tensions in the former civil war area. However, this has created a goods border with the rest of the UK, and there are restrictions in intra-UK trade.
Minimize frictional losses
After the surprising resignation of former Brexit Minister David Frost, Truss is now responsible for Britain’s relationship with the EU. For months, London and Brussels have been negotiating how the Northern Ireland Protocol can be implemented with as little friction as possible. The British government had recently taken the edge off a bit. But Truss now seems to be pulling the reins again. For example, she renewed the call for an end to the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction over protocol disputes. A meeting with EU Commission Vice-President Sefcovic is planned on Thursday at her country house in Chevening.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU at the end of 2019, against the express will of the Protestant parties in the province. However, he had initially denied the concrete consequences. The so-called loyalists fear that Northern Ireland and Great Britain will drift apart as a result of the settlement and have since tried to torpedo the agreement.