Controversial UK Bill Threatens EU Trade Deal: Irish FM

Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney on Thursday said Brussels will not rubberstamp an EU-UK trade agreement if London keeps threatening to breach its Brexit divorce deal

Dublin, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Sep, 2020 ) :Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney on Thursday said Brussels will not rubberstamp an EU-UK trade agreement if London keeps threatening to breach its Brexit divorce deal.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has caused outcry across the EU with plans to overrule aspects of the treaty it signed with the 27 member states last year.

The row has overshadowed protracted talks for a future trading partnership, which are deadlocked in several key areas.

Coveney told Ireland's lower house of parliament, the Dail, that Johnson's insistence in forging ahead with a controversial new bill put the whole process at risk.

"It's my view that even if we do get an agreement in terms of a future relationship that if there is still a threat by the (UK) to legislate to undermine the withdrawal agreement and break international law, I don't believe that any future relationship agreement will be ratified," he said.

"Because why would the EU ratify a new agreement with a country that is threatening to break an agreement that's not even 12 months old?"Both London and Brussels say a deal on a free trade agreement must be struck by mid-October to allow time for it to be ratified before coming into force from January 1 next year.