Simon Coveney has accused the British Government of dismissing EU solutions to the Northern Ireland Protocol before they are released.
Mr Coveney also said it is a “bit rich” that Britain’s Brexit negotiator David Frost has accused him of raising Brexit issues on social media.
He made the comments in response to a speech Lord Frost is to give on Tuesday, in which he will make removing the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Northern Ireland a red-line issue.
“Each time that the European Union comes forward with new ideas and new proposals to try and solve problems, they are dismissed before they are released, and that’s happening again this week,” Mr Coveney said.
“But this week it seems more serious because Maros Sefcovic, and his negotiating team on behalf of the EU, have been preparing this package for weeks, if not months, to try to deal with many of the practical issues that many in Northern Ireland have been frustrated by, by ensuring medicines can get into Northern Ireland, ensuring that chilled meats can get into Northern Ireland.
“These are the kind of practical measures that on Wednesday the EU is going to introduce a package around.
“David Frost accuses me of raising issues on social media. It’s a bit rich, quite frankly, because he is briefing British media effectively to say ‘Well, the EU can make the changes that they need to make, but actually it’s not enough, we want more’, and now it’s the ECJ is the main issue.
“Yes, it’s true that they raised ECJ issues in a command paper in mid-summer, but the truth is, if the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, in terms of the functioning of the EU single market, was an absolute red line for the UK, why did they sign up to an agreement that allowed the ECJ to effectively be the final arbiter for the implementation of the protocol in Northern Ireland?
“This is being seen across the European Union as the same pattern over and over again – the EU tries to solve problems, the UK dismisses the solutions before they’re even published and asks for more.”
1. I prefer not to do negotiations by twitter, but since @simoncoveney has begun the process...
— David Frost (@DavidGHFrost) October 9, 2021
...the issue of governance & the CJEU is not new. We set out our concerns three months ago in our 21 July Command Paper.
The problem is that too few people seem to have listened. https://t.co/Y7DDdgu0pC
Mr Coveney accused the British Government of “shifting the playing field” away from solving issues.
“I think people are asking themselves the question ‘Does the UK Government want to solve these problems in the interests of Northern Ireland and businesses there?’
“Or is this going to be a continuing source of tension between the UK and the EU?
“Unfortunately, if it is, Ireland is the country that suffers most, north and south, as a result of that, because of the polarising impact on politics in Northern Ireland of the protocol and the deep concerns that many in the Unionist community have in relation to it.
“I’ve spoken to many Unionists and I’ve spoken to many business people in Northern Ireland, and none of them are raising the issue of the ECJ jurisdiction in terms of the interpretation of the EU single market on the implementation of the protocol.
“They are raising practical issues around freedom to trade without checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“The European Commission is trying to solve those issues as much as they can within the confines of the protocol.
“The British Government seems to be shifting the playing field now away from solving those issues, which they presume they have compromised on, and now opening up this red-line issue of the jurisdiction of the ECJ.”
Maros Sefcovic, a vice-president of the European Commission, announced last week that Brussels was preparing “very far-reaching proposals” to address issues with the protocol. They focus on customs, medicines, animal checks and representation for Northern Ireland politicians in the EU and will carry, Mr Sefcovic said, a “political risk” because of British threats to trigger Article 16 of the protocol, which would override much of it.
“I sincerely hope that it will be seen as such by our UK counterparts and they engage constructively in our discussion, because I think we have to move from the tough political rhetoric, from the threats we hear all the time, down to the business that actually solves the problems” he said.
Mr Sefcovic ruled out removing the role of the ECJ. He said: “To be quite honest, I find it hard to see how Northern Ireland would stay or would keep access to the single market without oversight of the European Court of Justice. Do we want to deprive the people of Northern Ireland of this tremendous opportunity, this huge advantage? Do we want to do that?”
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it is not acceptable for Northern Ireland to fall within the jurisdiction of a court over which it has no control.
He made the remark as he was pressed on the DUP position on the Government’s demand for the EU to remove the arbitration role of the European Court of Justice from the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Fielding media questions at Stormont, Sir Jeffrey was asked why the ECJ was not referred to explicitly in his party’s seven tests for judging efforts to resolve issues with the protocol.
Sir Jeffrey said ECJ jurisdiction fell within the fourth test set out by the party: ‘give people in Northern Ireland a say in making the laws that govern them’.
“Actually that is part of my test – that I want to know how the people of Northern Ireland are going to be dealt with in all of this,” he said.
“It is not acceptable for Northern Ireland to have to accept laws and the jurisdiction of a court over which we have no control and in which we have no say. That is not the way forward.”
Sir Jeffrey added: “We are very clear that the governance arrangements, how any future measures and arrangements that are agreed with the EU are taken forward, how they are governed is very important, because there is the potential for future divergence between the UK and the EU, and we don’t want Northern Ireland once again caught in the middle of all of that.”
