LONDON (Reuters) – Northern Ireland’s Prime Minister has said the European Union’s pledge of legal action over the UK extends the trade extension period, showing that the priority is to protect the trade bloc, not the Belfast peace agreement. .
“What they’re only interested in is protecting their bloc, as they claim they want to protect the Belfast deal,” Arlene Foster told BBC radio on Friday.
“If that were the case, they would not take the step to take a gift.”
The European Union said on Wednesday it would take legal action after the British government unilaterally extended a grace period for food imports to Northern Ireland. An agreement that, according to Brussels, has been violated under the terms of Britain’s divorce agreement.
Foster said the purpose of the protocol was to prevent UK goods from entering the EU internal market, but the consequences, and the action taken in London and Brussels, were ‘completely disproportionate’ to the risks.
“We need to replace (the protocol) because extending grace periods only keeps patches on what are really fundamental problems in terms of trade,” she said.
“There is a fundamental misunderstanding with the European Union about the damage they are doing.”
Since the EU’s promise of legal action, Northern Ireland’s loyalist paramilitary groups have said they are temporarily withdrawing support for the 1998 peace agreement, known as the Belfast Peace Agreement or the Good Friday Agreement, due to concerns over the Brexit agreement.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle and Sarah Young; Edited by Costas Pitas / Guy Faulconbridge)