NORTHERN IRELAND, EU AND UK IN SHORT IRONS

First, Lord Frost, says that the Protocol on Northern Ireland, as it is currently written and interpreted, is unlikely to be applied in the long term; Then, Boris Johnson, on the sidelines of the G7 in Cornwall, declares himself “ready for anything” for Northern Ireland.

London is ready to do everything possible to protect the free passage of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, disapplying the provisions on the marine border line designed and written in the Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement of Great Britain, so as to protect the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, word of Boris Johnson. It is the latest episode of a serial that appears destined for a stormy end, a test of strength of which neither reason nor the ideal that sustains it can be perceived. The UK has unilaterally decided to extend to October the grace period during which European import and export rules are not applied in Northern Ireland; the EU, last March 15, entered Great Britain in default for violation of the substantive provisions of the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and of the obligation of good faith provided for by the Withdrawal Agreement. Lack of access to UK import databases, the completion of permanent border checkpoints (BCPs) in Irish ports and the refusal to consider veterinary agreement: the EU’s pessimism seems to have valid justification. It is now up to Britain to put an end to this comedy.