The reason for the next aggravation of relations between the United Kingdom and the continent is the difficult situation that has developed around the protocol on Northern Ireland, concluded within the framework of the agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU.
According to ЕАdaily, The Times reported that on the sidelines of the G7 summit, which opened on Friday in the English county of Cornwall, European leaders will warn British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about their readiness to start a trade war with the kingdom.
“In the course of personal meetings with the head of the British government, both the head of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron intend to touch on it”, – the British publication claims.
According to a trade agreement between the EU and the UK last December, Northern Ireland, which left the EU as part of the United Kingdom, remained part of the EU customs territory. This dual status avoided the emergence of a border between Ulster and the EU Republic of Ireland, but required control procedures in Northern Ireland ports for the transport of a number of goods from other parts of the United Kingdom.
The British authorities were forced to change the terms of the agreement under pressure from entrepreneurs who warn of possible interruptions in supply due to the need to fill out customs declarations and undergo additional inspections, which threatens to empty Ulster stores. The European Commission responded by launching legal proceedings against the UK for breaching the Brexit agreement.
Discussions between the EU and the UK over the protocol escalated with renewed vigor at the end of May due to the grace period expiring on June 30, exempting suppliers of chilled meat from processing a number of phytosanitary documents. London, fearing a shortage of meat products in Northern Ireland supermarkets, is ready to renew the preferential treatment, while Brussels calls for compliance with the provisions of the protocol. Disputes over the supply of meat between the UK and the European Union have been called the “sausage war” in the British press.