EU will not renegotiate Northern Ireland Protocol, says commissioner

BRUSSELS

EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday said that the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit Agreement cannot be renegotiated.

“The (Northern Ireland) Protocol, as a cornerstone of the Withdrawal Agreement, is an international agreement. Its renegotiation is not an option,” Sefcovic said in a statement, stressing that the “European Union is united in this position.”

His announcement came after Prince Charles delivered the Queen Elizabeth’s speech in the British parliament, outlining the government’s priorities.

Sefcovic underlined that the EU “wishes to have a positive and stable relationship with the United Kingdom” and remains open to working together with London “on implementing the protocol to bring long-term legal certainty and predictability to the people and businesses in Northern Ireland.”

He also asserted that the bloc wants to continue negotiations with the British government to find a joint solution.

However, he warned that “unilateral action by the UK would only make our work on possible solutions more difficult.”

The EU and UK are at odds for years over the application of the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit Agreement which established a special trade regime.

With the intention to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in respect of the Good Friday Agreement, parties agreed that Northern Ireland would remain a part of the EU’s customs regime and the UK would apply customs checks for goods coming from Northern Ireland.

In October 2021, the European Commission proposed a set of new measures on simplifying the certification system and reducing control for goods transported from other parts of Great Britain to Northern Ireland in the area of public, plant, and animal health.

Earlier this year, the bloc also adopted legislation allowing the British government to supply medicine to Northern Ireland on their own terms.

The UK left the EU after 47 years of membership on Jan. 31, 2020.