LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union should eliminate its ill-will and establish a good relationship with Britain as equal sovereigns, EU chief adviser David Frost said on Sunday, pledging to defend the interests of the EU. country.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Frost again defended Britain’s unilateral move to soften post-Brexit trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, on which the EU has pledged to take legal action to breach the terms of the agreement on Brexit.
Since Britain left the EU last year, relations between the two have worsened, with both sides accusing the other of acting in bad faith in relation to a part of its trade agreement that covers the movements of goods to Northern Ireland.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has tried to keep his distance from the line, said Britain and the EU would eliminate what he called “technical issues”, and said those issues should happen “in the early stages”. of our new relationship “. .
Frost, who led Britain’s negotiations to reach a trade deal with the bloc, was appointed Johnson’s minister and chief man for future ties with the EU earlier this year and looks set to take a firmer approach. .
“I hope they waste any ill will we have left to leave and instead build a friendly relationship between equal sovereigns,” he wrote in an opinion piece.
“That is why I will work, acting constructively when we can, defending our interests when necessary, as a sovereign country in full control of our own destiny.”
The EU has denied suggestions from some leading Brexiteers that it wishes badly to post-Brexit Britain, saying it only expects London to comply with the terms of the divorce agreement.
Frost again defended the extension of the grace period by the British government for controls on some food products imported by retailers in Northern Ireland as “lawful and consistent with the progressive and good faith implementation” of a party. of the post-Brexit trade agreement called Northern Ireland. protocol.
But he added: “Without this threat of disruption, we can continue our discussions with the EU to resolve the difficulties arising from the protocol in a constructive manner, and we intend to do so.”
The future of Northern Ireland was hotly contested during the Brexit negotiations. London finally agreed to leave the British-ruled province aligned with the EU’s single market for goods to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, for fear it could be detrimental to the deal. of peace of 1998 that ended decades of conflict in the province.
This has required checking for some items arriving in Northern Ireland from other places in the UK, which some companies say has made it difficult to incorporate supplies. To address this issue, the British government extended the grace period for some controls until 1 October.
The EU argues that the extension of the grace period would be in line with the agreement, saying London should honor what it signed. He has promised to initiate legal action or a so-called “infringement procedure” against Britain.
Report by Elizabeth Piper; Edited by Mark Heinrich