The European Union may set aside the free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom if London triggers article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol and suspends its operation, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.
Mr Coveney said the EU “would respond in a very serious way” if the UK invokes article 16 of the protocol, effectively putting on hold the operation agreement on Northern Ireland between the EU and the UK.
He said the free-trade agreement between the two depends on the protocol being operated by London.
“One is contingent on the other. So that if one is being set aside, there is a danger that the other will also be set aside by the EU,” Mr Coveney told RTÉ’s This Week programme. He said he hoped the dispute would not escalate into a trade war between the two, but that the EU would conclude that the UK is not operating in good faith if article 16 is invoked.
He said he needed to be blunt in his warnings to London that suspension of the protocol would not be viewed as a minor issue by the EU. Mr Coveney added that the British government should not underestimate the impact in Brussels of triggering article 16.
He said it is not a “technical issue” but would be seen in Brussels as “deliberately forcing a breakdown in relations and negotiations between the two sides”.
Mr Coveney added: "I think they are deliberately asking for what they know they can't get." He said of the British approach to the talks that "the negotiating tactic of the prime minister and [UK chief Brexit negotiator] Lord Frost has been very consistent – it has been to offer nothing, [but] to continually ask for more".
Mr Coveney said it is “increasingly the view across the EU” that the British side is seeking to collapse negotiations. The British government, he said, is seeking to “rewrite the protocol entirely when they know that the EU can’t, and won’t, do that”.
Ireland would act in concert with the rest of the European Union if London triggers article 16, he added.
“This is bad faith if it happens,” said Mr Coveneyand would be damaging to relations between the EU and UK and London and Dublin, echoing Dáil comments by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Wednesday. Mr Coveney also said that the move would damage relations between London and Washington. President Joe Biden has warned Britain repeatedly about actions that might damage the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Mr Coveney said he was setting aside “the diplomatic language that I’m expected to use as a foreign minister” and would “be a bit more direct in relation to the consequences” of triggering article 16.
“This would be a significant act that would damage relationships between Britain and Ireland, would put extraordinary pressure on parties in Northern Ireland also . . . Northern Ireland works when the British and Irish governments act in partnership and Northern Ireland doesn’t work when that isn’t happening.”
At some point, said Mr Coveney, “the EU says enough, we are not negotiating with a partner here that is acting in good faith”.
Community tired
Triggering Article 16 was the last thing the North needs as the region grapples with Brexit and the pandemic, said Aodhán Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium. “The community here is tired,” he said.
“We have Brexit fatigue, we have Protocol fatigue. We just want to make things work.
“There is a health crisis. We are still in the middle of a global pandemic. There are cost rises on everything from groceries to fuel, and this is affecting everyone’s pocket.
“So, what we don’t need is another headache by Article 16 being invoked or a long protracted negotiation period.”
Mr Connolly said the business community and the community at large “needs to see this being resolved and resolved in a way that allows us to move goods without friction.”
“We need stability, certainty, simplicity, and we need affordability,” he said.
“Article 16 does not do that. It gives us more uncertainty, it gives us more instability and it gives us more negotiations.”
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald warned Britain is “playing a very dangerous game” in negotiations with the EU over the protocol.
The UK government is playing a “game of chicken” with Brussels in which Ireland was the collateral damage, she said.
Ms McDonald said she agreed with remarks over the weekend by former British prime minister John Major that suspending parts of the protocol would be dangerous and “colossally stupid”.
“I would say furthermore it would demonstrate yet again colossal bad faith and demonstrate again that Ireland - the North of Ireland in particular - is collateral damage in the Tory Brexit as they play games and play a game of chicken with the European institutions,” she said.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Politics, Ms McDonald said “if the British government imagine that they hold all of the cards, they are wrong and they are playing a very dangerous game, up to and including jeopardising the entire Withdrawal Agreement.”
Ms McDonald said the EU has demonstrated flexibility and good faith in negotiations and now the “ball is at the foot” of Boris Johnson.
Britain needed to “act in good faith” and if it didn’t the “consequences could be grave,” she said.
Ms McDonald accepted there were “issues with the Protocol” but said it was also necessary.
Labour’s view
Earlier today British Labour leader Keir Starmer said suspending parts of Northern Ireland's Brexit deal would not resolve the dispute between the UK and EU.
Asked if he would support the government if it triggers article 16, the Labour leader told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I don’t think that triggering article 16 will resolve the dispute in relation to the protocol in Northern Ireland. That isn’t in the interests of the communities . . . or businesses in Northern Ireland. What is in their interests is resolving the issues.
“Because of the way the protocol was drafted, because of what the prime minister signed, it is perfectly true that there are checks from Great Britain to Northern Ireland – we want to reduce those.”
He added: “What I am saying is don’t rip up the protocol because that has that very important central purpose, which is to protect the no Border in Northern Ireland.”
On Saturday former British prime minister John Major said he warned Boris Johnson that suspending parts of Northern Ireland's Brexit deal would be dangerous and "colossally stupid". He said the move would damage relations with the European Union and the United States and could further destabilise Northern Ireland. – Additional reporting PA
