British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has shown her determination to make “
meaningful progress
” quickly in negotiations with the EU over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland, in the face of growing pressure from unionists.
Read alsoNorthern Ireland under the crossfire of London and the European Union
If London and Brussels have intensified their discussions in this thorny issue, the unionists, who see in the Northern Irish protocol a threat to the place of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, demand a quick solution.
After a meeting in Belfast on Thursday with Liz Truss, who recently took over the dossier, Northern Irish Prime Minister Paul Givan (Unionist, DUP), whose party threatens to collapse local government, demanded progress "
from imminent way
”.
And set the deadline for February 21, the date of the next meeting of the United Kingdom EU joint committee on the implementation of the Brexit agreement.
"Significant progress by February"
“
What I want is a deal that works for everyone. We are making progress. We have constructive discussions
” with the EU, assured Liz Truss. “
I want us to make significant progress by February
,” she continued, stressing the importance of ensuring “
the support of all communities in Northern Ireland, including the Unionist community
”.
Designed to prevent the re-establishment of a physical border with neighboring Ireland which would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998 in a region with a bloody past, the Northern Irish protocol keeps the British province in the European single market and customs union. .
Providing for customs and phytosanitary controls for goods from Great Britain, the text is held responsible for supply difficulties.
Read alsoBrexit: economic players have it both ways in Northern Ireland
The peaceful tone of the latest exchanges between Europeans and the British may give hope for a negotiated outcome rather than a failure synonymous with the risk of a trade war.
But for a Boris Johnson weakened even in his own camp because of the holiday scandal in Downing Street under confinement, relations with the EU are a unifying subject.
In front of an overheated Parliament, the British Prime Minister on Wednesday called
the way the EU is implementing the protocol "
insane and nitpicky ".
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