The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed Thursday on the need to «work together» to reach a solution to the dispute over the implementation of the protocol for Northern Ireland agreed as part of the Brexit agreements but which London has refused to implement for a year.
In separate messages released by their teams following a telephone conversation between the two, Von der Leyen and Sunak express with the same wording the agreement that it is important to «work together to agree on solutions» regarding the Brexit provisions for the Ulster, without giving further details.
The European Union and the British government agreed that, in order for the British province of Northern Ireland to remain part of the Single Market after Brexit – thus avoiding a return to a guarded border with Ireland – a series of controls and other provisions should be imposed on the passage of goods from the rest of Great Britain after the UK’s exit.
With Boris Johnson at the head of Downing Street, the United Kingdom unilaterally decided to apply such provisions negotiated and agreed with the EU and Brussels reacted by taking the case to the Court of Justice of the EU, considering it to be a violation of an international treaty.
The matter is still in process and London and Brussels have resumed talks after Sunak’s arrival to the Government to try to agree on a dialogued solution that avoids the courts.
In the phone call, Von der Leyen and Sunak also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the determination of both sides to maintain «close coordination» between the EU and UK in their support for the Russian-invaded country and sanctions to respond against the Kremlin. They have also agreed that they will push forward «ambitious agendas» for both the G7 and G20 during 2023.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
