© Associated Press
– Port of Northern Ireland
On Monday, Britain will threaten to break some of the terms of an agreement with the EU that regulates trade with Northern Ireland after Brexit, saying they have become too harmful to be preserved, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a conference of the ruling Conservative Party in Manchester, Brexit Minister David Frost will call on the European Union to help find an acceptable solution to the problems arising from the deal, the party said in a statement. “He will warn that adjustments to individual details will not fix the fundamental problems with the protocol,” the Conservatives said in a statement.
For months, the British government has been calling on the EU to renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol, which regulates trade between Britain and its province bordering the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the EU.
The EU has stated that it will not renegotiate the terms of the agreement.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the Brexit agreement that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU. The Protocol establishes a de facto customs border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to ensure free trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The United Kingdom is threatening to invoke Article 16 of the agreement, which allows each party to unilaterally seek to waive some of the clauses if they prove to be unexpectedly harmful.
According to published excerpts from his speech, Frost will state that the conditions for using Article 16 are in place.
Brussels is expected to respond in detail to a document presented by the British government in July calling for major changes to the protocol. / BTA
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