The EU rejects the UK’s demand to renegotiate the N.Ireland protocol

BRUSSELS, September 8 (Reuters) – The European Union and Britain must resolve trade-related problems in Northern Ireland through a mutually agreed protocol, the EU’s Brexit coordinator said on Wednesday. reject the British demand to renegotiate it.

European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said on the eve of his first trip to the British province that he was “absolutely convinced” that good solutions could be found within the protocol.

“Let’s focus on the specific problem. We are not trying to renegotiate the protocol. This is definitely not our goal and I think we can find the right solution to the outstanding problems,” Sefcovic told a news conference.

The commissioner, who oversees the EU’s relationship with Britain after leaving the bloc, will meet with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Wednesday and visit Northern Ireland on Thursday and Friday.

He said he wanted to establish between politicians, business people and civil society the specific problems that Brexit had caused and believed that there was enough creativity and good will to solve them.

Under the protocol, Britain agreed to leave some EU rules in Northern Ireland and accept controls on goods arriving from elsewhere in the UK.

Since then, London has said the deal was not working and wants it to change.

The protocol aimed to protect the EU’s single market and prevent border controls with the EU-based Republic of Ireland, which would be anathema to Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland, many of whom aspire to an Ireland united.

But in addition to disrupting trade, the perception that the protocol undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK has provoked anger in pro-British Protestant communities and has helped fuel street violence in the early 20th century. year.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday reiterated his government’s position and told parliament that the protocol, as it was being implemented, did not protect the Good Friday peace deal.

“We have to fix it,” he said.

Reports by Philip Blenkinsop and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Elizabeth Piper in London; Edited by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson

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