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The EU has threatened to launch a trade war against Britain if it fails to implement checks on goods entering Northern Ireland under the terms of the Brexit “divorce” settlement.
After talks in London ended without a breakthrough, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said patience with the UK was wearing “very, very thin”.
His warning came after Brexit minister David Frost refused to rule out the prospect that the UK could unilaterally delay imposing checks on British-made sausages and other chilled meats due to come into force at the end of the month.
Following three-and-a-half hours of discussions at Admiralty House, Mr Frost accused Brussels of adopting an “extremely purist” approach to the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement signed by UK prime minister Boris Johnson.
In a press conference afterwards, Mr Sefcovic insisted the EU has shown “enormous patience” in the face of “numerous and fundamental gaps” in the UK’s compliance with the agreement.
He said that any further backtracking will be met with a resolute response.
“Of course, as you would understand, the fact that I mentioned that we are at a crossroads means that our patience really is wearing very, very thin, and therefore we have to assess all options we have at our disposal,” he said.
“I was talking about the legal action, I was talking about arbitration, and of course I’m talking about the cross-retaliation.”



Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill. Photograph: David Young/PA Wire


‘Crossroads’
Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister challenged the UK government to “honour its commitments” on the Brexit Protocol.
Speaking after a meeting of the joint UK/EU committee on the implementation of the Protocol, Michelle O’Neill said she felt they were at a “crossroads”.
She said progress had been made in some areas during the meeting, including on the supply of medicines from Great Britain, but there was “still a way to go” on other sticking points.
“I think certainly we’re probably at a crossroads point, I think that was certainly the indication from the EU side,” she told a Stormont press conference.
“Certainly there’s a frustration that the British government have signed up to this agreement, however they have failed to bring forward ways to implement the Protocol in its entirety.”
On the issue of potential restrictions on medicine supplies into Northern Ireland from Great Britain when a grace period ends at the end of 2021, Ms O’Neill said: “We discussed in particular the issue of medicines, which is important that we find a solution there.
“And I think all sides are willing to do so and I’d be hopeful that there will be a solution found there, but there still is more work to be done.”
Ms O’Neill said it was made clear to the UK government that an agreement with the EU on veterinary standards, even a temporary one, would remove the need for the majority of the new checks.
Unionists in Northern Ireland have called for the scrapping of the Protocol.
The Sinn Féin vice-president said she made it clear that not everyone in the region believes the Protocol should be scrapped.
“I took the opportunity at the meeting to address head-on with the EU Commission and indeed with David Frost that the Protocol has afforded opportunity, it does afford protection to the local business community here but it certainly affords opportunity in that we have access to both the British market and the EU market,” she added.
The US
United States president Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the US does not want to see any action that would put at risk the Northern Ireland peace process, which the Protocol is designed to protect.
Ahead of Mr Biden’s meeting with Mr Johnson on Thursday, before the G7 summit in Cornwall, Mr Sullivan said it is up to the two sides to find an agreed way forward.
“President Biden believes and has said that the Northern Ireland Protocol, as part of the agreement between the UK and the European Union, is critical to ensuring that the spirit, promise and future of the Good Friday [Belfast] Agreement is protected,” Mr Sullivan told the BBC.
“That being said, of course the UK and EU need to work out the specifics and the modalities on that, need to find some way to proceed that works both for the EU and the UK.
“But whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement and not imperil that.” – PA