Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis has accused European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic of «deliberately misrepresenting» Britain’s demands for the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Lewis was responding to an article in the Daily Telegraph in which Sefkovic said he was increasingly concerned that Britain was on the verge of confrontation with the European Union.
“None of the business representatives I met in Northern Ireland…have asked me to cancel the protocol. Instead, they have asked me to fix the practical challenges they face in implementing it,” Mr. Sefcovic wrote.
«I am increasingly concerned that the UK government will refuse to get involved in this and embark on a confrontational path.»
Lewis said Britain was not trying to get rid of the protocol but was seeking changes to make it more acceptable to the people of Northern Ireland.
The UK government is not arguing for the abolition of the protocol and has never done so. This is a deliberate misrepresentation of the position outlined in our July leadership paper. The United Kingdom bears ultimate responsibility for the peace and prosperity of Northern Ireland. What we seek is to make changes for the sole purpose of finding more permanent arrangements that work best for the people of Northern Ireland.”
British and European Union negotiators are meeting in Brussels for a second week of talks over the European Union’s offer to scrap most checks and procedures for goods transported from Britain to Northern Ireland.
But Brexit Secretary David Frost warned that Britain would unilaterally suspend parts of the protocol if the European Court of Justice’s role in policing it was not overturned.
good foundation
At the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow on Monday, Taoiseach Michael Martin spoke briefly with US President Joe Biden, who reaffirmed US support for the peace process and the Belfast Agreement.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Martin praised Sefkovic’s article on the protocol and said the EU proposals were a good basis for the agreement.
“I think Europe has come a long way in terms of the operational details of the protocol. They have listened to people on the ground, different industrial business sectors, people in community groups.
Tremendous progress has been made and I think the UK government should respond in kind. It’s in the interest of the Good Friday Agreement, it’s in the interest of the people of Northern Ireland, who will have access to the European single market as well, of course, to access the Great Britain market,» he said.
Martin urged Britain to act constructively in its dispute with France over licenses for French boats to fish in coastal waters off Jersey and Guernsey.
Taoiseach said Ireland stood in solidarity with France, which has threatened to ban British fishing boats from its ports and step up inspections of British cargo trucks.
We believe that the EU and the UK government need to engage constructively on a whole range of issues, not least fisheries. There is concern that the UK government has not constructively engaged in a significant number of files.
But I think there are discussions going on between the UK government and the French government and that they may be in a position to resolve this issue. But we would like again, given our particular situation, to see this resolved independently of the protocol.»