Stormont’s former first minister, Peter Robinson, accused the EU of «irrational political bias» and warned it had to «get back to the drawing board» over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The former DUP leader described reforms to the post-Brexit arrangements outlined by European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Wednesday as an «upgrade» but insisted that «more movement is needed» to bring unionists to the council.
He suggested triggering the controversial Article 16 of the protocol – which allows the EU or the UK to unilaterally suspend aspects of their operations if either side considers them to cause «economic, social or environmental difficulties» – might be necessary to «achieve this objective».
Mr Robinson also accuses the SPD, the Alliance and Sinn Fein of «bitter support» of the EU’s proposed reforms, which would eliminate most inspections of goods transported between Britain and the North.
The de facto border on the Irish Sea was established under the protocol, agreed by London and Brussels, to avoid a difficult border on the island of Ireland and protect the EU’s single market after the UK withdrew from the bloc.
“What strikes me most is the irrational political prejudice and arrogant condescension on the part of the European Union, which believes it is a greater priority to ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland than between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United States of which we are part,” Mr Robinson wrote in His weekly column in The Newsletter.
Nationalists prefer it
He claimed that Mr. Sefkovitch was only interested in protecting the gains from the Belfast Agreement (Good Friday) favored by the Nationalists. He wrote that the 1998 peace agreement was «harmful» and «it is heresy for any unionist, especially with the benefit of hindsight, to praise it».
Mr Robinson said the agreement «opened prison doors for terrorists to exit, destroyed the Royal Ulster Police, and allowed Sinn Féin into government while Republicans stuck to their bombs and guns, continued killing, relentlessly insisting on their criminality, while refusing to support the police or recognize the authority of the courts».
He said he was «unmoved» by the SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance party who had given «bitter support for the EU proposals».
«These parties welcomed the Protocol in its original form, and no change would have occurred if it had been left to them,» he wrote.
“They are content with maintaining a denial of democratic accountability for the laws that the EU will pass and enforce in Northern Ireland. They accept that the EU must be both an advocate and a judge of its cause when there is a dispute over trade matters.
‘hand trick’
«They support the constitutional sleight of hand declaring Great Britain a ‘third country’ in relation to Northern Ireland’s trade, and they commend continued inspections of goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.»
Mr Robinson said the EU completely ignores the «constitutional, legal and democratic implications of the protocol and appears to believe that only the commercial component of the protocol needs to be considered».
«Even in this narrow perspective they are falling short. If the problem is limited to costly compliance requirements and time-consuming checking of goods within the UK, the answer is to remove those checks, not reduce their number.»
Responding to Mr Robinson’s comments about the Belfast Agreement, Taoiseach Michel Martin said on Friday: «I am amazed at this language but I have not heard that sentiment.
«I met with all political parties last Friday, and they all made clear to me their desire to preserve the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, the Council and the Executive to ensure continued political stability.»
Mr Martin also defended the latest set of proposals from Mr Sefcovic and the EU, noting that Mr Sefcovic had gone very carefully and deliberately to Northern Ireland to hear the full spectrum of political opinion there before putting forward his latest proposals.
“First of all, Maros Sivkovic went to the North, met all the political parties and met all the representatives of business and industry in Northern Ireland and listened to him directly. I would have met him before he went north, and his aims are real and sincere in trying to make the protocol work for all the people of Northern Ireland,” Mr. Martin said.
Martin said he remembered a conversation with Mr Robinson a few years ago when Mr Robinson lamented the fact that Northern Ireland did not have the equivalent of an IDA to attract foreign investment as it did in the Republic.
“I think access to the European single market is a huge advantage for jobs, business and industry in Northern Ireland, and the actions introduced by the Commission this week through Maros Sefcovic really advance that agenda in terms of inward investment in the North but also allowing businesses in the North to grow through exports. to the European Union market.