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U.K. agriculture and environment secretary George Eustice on Tuesday complained that the EU was “slow … to engage” on talks regarding the Northern Ireland protocol, as the two parties are locked in a row over checks for products entering Northern Ireland from Britain.
“We should be working together to identify ways forward, and that’s where the European Union have been quite slow to date to engage,” Eustice said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, adding that what is needed is “a full reading of the Northern Ireland protocol, not the partial reading that we sometimes see coming from the European Union.”
In March, the U.K. unilaterally postponed until October 1 the introduction of customs checks, which were supposed to be introduced on April 1 under Britain’s post-Brexit trade agreement with the EU. European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič, who is responsible for implementing the deal, warned the U.K. against taking “further unilateral action over the coming weeks” in a Telegraph op-ed published Monday evening.
The Telegraph also reports U.K. ministers are considering “as a last resort” a unilateral extension of the grace period for food safety checks on chilled meats like sausages and mince, which ends on June 30, if the two parties do not reach an agreement by this date.
If something like this happens, “the EU will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly and resolutely,” Šefčovič wrote.
A ban on sending British sausages and chicken nuggets in Northern Ireland would be “bonkers,” Eustice said.
Šefčovič also rejected accusations of EU inflexibility in negotiations, and in turn, accused the U.K. of “numerous and fundamental gaps” in its implementation of the protocol.
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