Stop threatening Brexit sausage war, says Frost
Brussels must drop threats of legal action and trade tariffs and focus on solving the problems in Northern Ireland, the Brexit minister Lord Frost said last night.
On the eve of the first UK-EU Partnership Council in London, Frost warned that threats would do nothing to solve the “damaging impact” the Northern Ireland Protocol was having on the ground.
“Further threats of legal action and trade retaliation from the EU won’t make life any easier for the shopper in Strabane who can’t buy their favourite product. Nor will it benefit the small business in Ballymena struggling to source produce from their supplier in Birmingham.”
The Conservative peer will meet his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in London later today to discuss ways to reduce disruption at the Irish Sea border amid a growing “sausage war” row over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Under EU law, chilled meats cannot be imported by a non-EU country unless there is an animal health and food safety agreement. But the UK and the EU have not yet agreed a deal – with the UK resisting Brussels calls to dynamically align with EU rules.
The current Protocol grace period allowing chilled meats produced in the mainland to be sent to Northern Ireland is set to expire on 30 June, but Boris Johnson has threatened to extend it. In response, Sefcovic threatened to retaliate “swiftly, firmly and resolutely” to an extension with a ban on selling sausages and mince.
Both the EU and the UK have called for compromise ahead of talks later today, but neither side has given any indication they are willing to shift their position. Lord Frost demanded “flexibility” from the EU, while Sefcovic denied the EU had been inflexible, saying it had shown it was prepared to “find creative solutions when required”.
Secovic said: “We can have two possible roads. One is the road of cooperation, show and action and constructive engagement. The other would lead us to more, to a difficult situation which would be generated by further unilateral actions.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressed “deep concern” over the implementation of the Brexit deal following phone talks with Johnson last night. Downing Street said that the PM assured her the UK is “committed to finding practical solutions” but underlined the need for “quick progress”.
The row has broken out just days before Johnson’s first face-to-face talks with US president Joe Biden on Thursday, who has previously warned the UK not to allow Brexit to destabilise the Northern Irish peace process.