BELGIUM-. Although the Brexit has been in force since the beginning of 2020, mistrust and tension still persists European Union and the United Kingdom. In this regard, the European bloc issued a harsh warning this Friday, November 5, after London anticipated that it can carry out unilateral emergency provisions in relation to the commercial agreement.
The prime minister’s Brexit negotiator Boris Johnson, David Frost, chose to clarify that the immediate activation of such provisions in the short term was not in mind. But in turn, he made it clear that he wants Brussels to offer more. These are measures that allow either party to take unilateral measures if you consider that the agreement governing post-Brexit trade is having a strongly negative impact on your interests.
Maros Sefcovic, a deputy chief of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, told the European Union “he has not seen any movement from the British side.” “We hear a lot about Article 16 at this time,” the official said after speaking with Frost. “Let there be no doubt that activating Article 16 to seek the renegotiation of the Protocol would have serious consequences,” he continued, as reported Reuters.
Sefcovic said activating Article 16 would lead to instability in North Ireland and it would amount to a rejection of the EU’s attempt to find a compromise. He added that he will travel to London to continue the talks next week. Meanwhile, Frost “stressed that progress has been limited and that the EU proposals do not effectively address fundamental difficulties in the way the economy operates. Protocol“.
The UK left the bloc last year, but has since refused to implement some of the border controls between his province of Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the European Union, which the 27-nation union says London is bound by under its divorce agreement. The British government also claims that controls are disproportionate and tensions are increasing in the Northern Irish nation.
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