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The port city of Larne in Northern Ireland: Food imports from Great Britain should no longer be controlled
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Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
An open dispute has broken out between Ireland and Northern Ireland over the implementation of the Brexit agreement.
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots announced that he had ordered the end of controls on UK food imports.
The United Kingdom and the EU had agreed on customs controls in the wake of Brexit.
"I have now issued a formal order to end all controls not in effect on 31 December 2020 at midnight today," Poots said.
The Brexit regulations came into force on January 1, 2021.
Poots, a member of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), cited a legal opinion that the measures should not have been introduced without the consent of the Northern Ireland regional government.
The DUP opposes the Northern Ireland Protocol and insists on close ties with Great Britain.
The Irish Foreign Ministry in Dublin immediately criticized that this would break the Brexit Treaty.
Last week, following threats from the DUP to stop controls, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it was a matter for the Northern Ireland regional government to resolve.
Border controls with Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland Protocol aims to ensure that EU rules apply in Ireland without introducing border controls with Northern Ireland.
As a result, controls on the movement of goods have shifted to the border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Northern Irish nationalists see this as the beginning of a split from the UK.
The DUP runs a fragile unity government with Catholic-Republican Sinn Fein, which in turn is seeking reunification with EU member Ireland.
Sinn Fein called the order illegal.
hba/Reuters/dpa