No movement: UK, EU show little sign of defusing post-Brexit row
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[June 12, 2021]
By Michel Rose and Elizabeth Piper
CARBIS BAY, England (Reuters) -Britain and
the European Union showed little sign of defusing a post-Brexit trade
dispute on Saturday, with both sides repeating their opposing positions
even after U.S. President Joe Biden encouraged them to find a
compromise.
Since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year, relations
between the two have soured, with both accusing the other of acting in
bad faith over part of their Brexit divorce deal that covers trade with
Northern Ireland.
At a Group of Seven summit in southwestern England, a meeting of the
world's largest advanced economies, Prime Minister Boris Johnson held
talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and top EU officials Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.
The EU told London once again that it must implement the Brexit deal in
full and introduce checks on certain goods moving from Britain to its
province of Northern Ireland. Britain again called for urgent and
innovative solutions.
"Both sides must implement what we agreed on," von der Leyen, European
Commission president, said after meeting Johnson alongside Michel, the
European Council president.
"There is complete EU unity on this," she said, adding that the deal had
been agreed, signed and ratified by both Johnson's government and the
bloc.
Johnson's spokesman responded: "The PM (prime minister) in all cases
(expressed) confidence in the UK's position as regards to the Northern
Ireland Protocol and the desire for pragmatism and compromise on all
sides."
Since Britain exited the bloc's orbit, Johnson has unilaterally delayed
the implementation of some provisions of the protocol, saying it was
causing disruption to some goods supplies to the British province.
The United States has expressed grave concern the dispute could
undermine the 1998 Good Friday peace deal.
That agreement largely brought an end to the "Troubles" - three decades
of conflict between Irish Catholic nationalist militants and pro-British
Protestant "loyalist" paramilitaries in which 3,600 people were killed.
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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets with European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council
President Charles Michel during the G7 summit in Carbis Bay,
Cornwall, Britain, June 12, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/Pool
BREXIT
Though Brexit was not part of the formal agenda for the G7 summit in
the English seaside resort of Carbis Bay, it has more than once
threatened to cloud the meeting.
France's Macron offered to reset relations with Britain as long as
Johnson stood by the Brexit deal - a characterisation of the meeting
that was rejected by the British team..
Brexit has strained the situation in Northern Ireland. The province
has an open border with EU member Ireland so the Northern Ireland
Protocol was agreed as a way to preserve the EU's single market
after Britain left the bloc.
The protocol essentially kept the province in the EU’s customs union
and adhering to many of the single market rules, creating a
regulatory border in the Irish Sea between the British province and
the rest of the United Kingdom.
London says the protocol is unsustainable in its current form
because of the disruption to some goods supplies.
The pro-British "unionist" community in Northern Ireland say they
are now split off from the rest of the United Kingdom and the Brexit
deal breaches the 1998 peace deal. But the open border between the
province and Ireland was a key principle of Good Friday deal.
Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage, has made clear that any
steps that imperilled the peace agreement would not be welcomed by
Washington.
(Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Frances Kerry)
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