Transitional phase for Northern Ireland: Great Britain asks EU for extension

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Lorries at Larne Harbor in Northern Ireland

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Charles McQuillan / Getty Images

Great Britain left the EU long ago, but the separation continues to pose problems.

The border situation between the EU member Ireland and the British Northern Ireland is particularly sensitive.

Boris Johnson's government has now asked for an extension of the grace period for customs controls on goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, according to a report by the BBC.

Cabinet Minister Michael Gove therefore proposed in a letter to EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic that the transition phase, which expired at the end of March, be extended to 2023.

At the same time, Gove called for rapid political solutions.

On Wednesday he will meet virtually with Sefcovic and Northern Irish government representatives.

As part of the Brexit agreement, both sides had agreed a three-month grace period for controls on food deliveries from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in order to mitigate the effects of the UK's exit from the EU and to avoid empty shelves in supermarkets.

Medicines, chilled meat and packages should also continue to be easier to bring across the border, reports the BBC.

Special regulation is intended to calm the Northern Ireland conflict

The background to this is a special Brexit regulation designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU, because otherwise the civil war between pro-British unionists and pro-Irish Catholics is feared.

It stipulates that Northern Ireland is part of the UK customs territory, but that all relevant EU internal market rules apply there.

However, in order to guarantee the protection of the EU internal market, goods that are delivered from Great Britain to Northern Ireland continue to fall under EU regulations.

This requires a customs regime within the UK, which is associated with a bureaucratic burden.

In Northern Ireland, pro-British unionists had protested in the past few days against the customs controls that have become necessary at the maritime border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK since the beginning of the year due to Brexit.

Concerned about the safety of customs officials, both Northern Ireland and the EU temporarily withdrew Brexit controllers from the ports.

Prime Minister Johnson wrote on Twitter on Tuesday about the Northern Ireland question: "What we need is urgent action by the EU to solve remaining problems in the implementation of the protocol." This is the only way to protect peace in the region and "Northern Ireland so from Brexit benefits like all other regions of the UK «.

In the video link on Wednesday, the conflicting parties also wanted to talk about the escalated vaccine dispute between the EU and Great Britain and the increased tensions in Northern Ireland.

The dispute arose last Friday because it initially sounded as if Brussels wanted to introduce controls on the export of vaccines on the border between the EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland and thus an emergency mechanism - Article 16 of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol - activate.

The EU wanted to protect itself from unregulated vaccine doses reaching Great Britain via Northern Ireland.

The Commission later gave in.

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mes / Reuters / dpa