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Border between Northern Ireland and Ireland (stock image)
Photo: Peter Morrison/AP/dpa
The British government is apparently planning an escalation in the long-term dispute with the European Union over customs regulations for Northern Ireland.
According to a newspaper report, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wants to scrap large parts of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol.
Truss is said to have concluded that talks with the European Union have reached an impasse and that Maros Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, does not have the mandate to reach an acceptable agreement, The Times reported on Monday.
The ministry has drafted legislation that would unilaterally lift all controls on UK goods.
According to the report, a corresponding announcement is expected next week.
A ministry spokesman told Reuters: "No decisions have been made on how to proceed, but the situation is now very serious."
The protocol aims to ensure that EU rules apply in Ireland without the need for rigid border controls to be introduced between the EU member and Britain's Northern Ireland.
As a result, controls on the movement of goods have shifted to the sea border between the British mainland and Northern Ireland.
Brussels does not want renegotiations
Northern Irish critics criticize this, they see it as the beginning of a separation from the kingdom.
Great Britain then demanded that the protocol signed in the course of Brexit be changed again.
Brussels strictly rejects this.
Negotiations have been going on between London and the EU for months, and the British have repeatedly threatened to go it alone.
In an interview with SPIEGEL at the end of 2021, EU representative Šefčovič warned the British government against unilateral termination: "If the British government went down this path, it would be an enormous setback for our relations." The protocol is the foundation of the entire agreement.
Šefčovič continues: »I don't even want to imagine the consequences for the fragile peace on the Irish island.
All of this would have serious consequences for EU-London relations.«
jok/Reuters