UK accuses ‘heavy’ EU of being responsible for Brexit deal issues

MANCHESTER, England – Great Britain Brexit The minister threatened on Monday to trigger a contentious break-up clause in the UK’s divorce deal with the European Union – a move that would deeply freeze the UK’s already cold relations with its huge neighbor.

David Frost told a meeting of the ruling Conservative Party in the UK that the Brexit deal – which he negotiated and signed by Britain and the EU – was undermining peace in Northern Ireland and caused “instability and disruption”.

He said that unless there are major changes to the deal, Britain will invoke Article 16, a provision that allows either party to suspend the deal in exceptional circumstances.

However, Britain has already made this threat and Frost has not pulled the trigger.

“But we cannot wait forever,” he said.

The crisis straining UK-EU relations stems from trade deals with Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK to have a land border with the bloc of 27 countries. The divorce agreement the two sides reached before leaving Britain means customs and border checks must be carried out on certain goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK

The regulations aim to prevent goods from Britain from entering the EU’s single market duty-free while maintaining an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland – a key pillar of the Northern Ireland peace process. But the checks angered trade unionists in Northern Ireland, who say they impose heavy red tape on companies and weaken Northern Ireland’s ties with the rest of the UK

Britain accuses the EU of being unnecessarily ‘purist’ in implementing the deal, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, and says it requires major changes to work.

Blaming the bloc’s “heavy-handed actions”, Frost said “the protocol itself” undermined the 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal.

“Businesses, political parties, institutions and indeed all of Northern Ireland are facing instability and disruption,” he said.

“So I urge the EU to be ambitious. There is no point in tinkering around the edges. We need significant changes.

EU officials will likely greet Frost’s ultimatum with disdain. The EU blames Britain for the disruption, accusing it of trying to reverse a legally binding deal it signed up to.

Britain has also angered the EU by delaying the introduction of controls on some bloc products agreed in the divorce deal, citing the burden on businesses.

Britain’s Tories are holding their first in-person conference since Britain left the bloc last year. Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to ‘make Brexit happen’, the breakup is shaking up the economy as Britain tries to bounce back from the disruption and damage caused by the pandemic.

A severe shortage of truck drivers, partly due to a post-Brexit exodus of European workers, has plagued UK supply chains, leaving gaps on the shelves of supermarkets, chicken-free fast food chains and pump pumps. dry gasoline. Dozens of soldiers have been drafted to drive tankers after more than a week of gasoline shortages.