UK Says EU's 'Purist' Approach To Northern Ireland Protocol Risking Peace Agreement

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2021) UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Friday blamed the European Union for the ongoing row over the implementation of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol, claiming that the bloc�s "purist" approach was risking the Good Friday Agreement that put an end to the conflict in the UK province in 1998.

"It is the dogmatic, purist approach that the EU has taken which is the risk to the Good Friday Agreement," Raab told Sky news broadcaster ahead of the Group of Seven Summit starting later in the day in Cornwall, southwest England.

After stressing that "the ball's is very much in the EU's court," the foreign minister also stressed that the UK government was not negotiating the integrity of the United Kingdom.

"We've put forward proposals, it's up to the EU now to come forward with a way that delivers win win, rather than the divisive approach we've seen recently," he said.

As part of the withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland remained in the European single market and customs unions after the United Kingdom left the bloc for good on December 31, 2020. Although there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, all goods and animal-based products coming from the rest of the UK territories must be checked upon arrival to Northern Ireland to comply with the EU sanitary regulations.

The EU has consistently said that the Northern Ireland Protocol is the only way to maintain both the Good Friday peace agreement and the integrity of its single market, but the implementation of the deal has sparked criticism and protests from loyalists who fear the deal could damage the UK sovereignty over the province, while others think it might affect the fragile political stability achieved with the 1998 peace accords.

The UK government has unilaterally pushed back the full implementation of checks on supermarket goods and parcels to prevent shortage of chilled meat products in the UK province due to delays caused by the customs checks and paperwork, but the EU claimed such move is undermining the protocol and has threatened London with legal action.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Brexit agreement could not be renegotiated.

The ongoing disagreement is threatening to overshadow the three-day G7 in-person summit, where the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US are planning to tackle a wide range of pressing issues, including climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.