The prospect of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's departure does not change the EU's determination to "
seek solutions
" to the dispute over post-Brexit customs arrangements in Northern Ireland, the European Commission said on Thursday (July 7th).
"
On the (political) events in the United Kingdom, we have no comment to make
," said a spokesman for the European executive, Johannes Bahrke, during the daily press briefing.
He was questioned shortly before the declaration of Boris Johnson, who announced that he would resign from the Conservative Party and remain in power until his successor was appointed.
“Our position is to seek solutions”
"
From our side, political developments do not change our position vis-à-vis the protocol, vis-à-vis our work with the British authorities, with Northern Ireland
," said another spokesperson for the Commission, Daniel Ferrie, responsible for EU-UK relations.
"
Our position is to seek solutions in relation to the implementation of the protocol, and that's it, and that does not change
," he added.
He added that the infringement procedure launched against London in September 2021 for breaching Northern Ireland protocol "
remains ongoing
".
Boris Johnson offered the Conservatives a historic majority in the House of Commons in 2019 and led the achievement of Brexit, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
But his desire to go back on a key text of the Brexit agreement, the Northern Ireland protocol, signed and ratified by both parties, has sparked threats of a trade war and strong tensions with Brussels, where he has been criticized for failed in its commitments.
A dual-purpose protocol
The Northern Irish Protocol was negotiated between London and Brussels as part of the Divorce Treaty to address the delicate issue of the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, member of the European Union.
It was designed to meet a dual objective: to protect the integrity of the European single market and to avoid a land border which would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998. To resolve this squaring of the circle, the Johnson government had accepted that Ireland du Nord remains de facto within the European market, establishing a customs border in the Irish Sea, with customs controls and formalities.
Read alsoThe Minister for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis leaves the Johnson government in turn
This situation complicates supplies and horrifies the unionist community for which the place of the province within the United Kingdom is threatened and whose main party, the DUP, has paralyzed for several months the formation of any local executive.
At the end of June, British MPs adopted at first reading a unilateral revision of this protocol, deemed illegal by the European Union, which announced new actions that could lead to financial sanctions.
