The EU will “suspend” parts of the Brexit trade agreement unless the UK ends its refusal to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol, Boris Johnson has been warned.
Speaking after talks failed to achieve a breakthrough, Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president, warned that “patience is wearing very, very thin”.
Brussels is ready to slap tariffs and quotas on UK exports, he said – and even to “suspend cooperation in certain sectors”, pointing to deals on trade and services.
Mr Šefčovič laid bare his frustration after the UK failed to shift ground in the morning talks – David Frost, the Brexit minister, describing the result as “no breakthroughs and no breakdown”.
Crucially, he failed to rule out the UK unilaterally delaying the ban on the export of chilled meats from Great Britain – due to come in at the end of this month – the so-called “sausage wars”.
The Commission vice-president warned that, if further unilateral action is taken, the EU would react “swiftly, firmly and resolutely” to ensure the UK sticks to the Prootocol it agreed and signed.
“The UK has to abide by its legal obligations and perform these controls,” Mr Šefčovič told a press conference in London.
“Unfortunately, there are still numerous and fundamental gaps in the UK implementation of our agreement. These gaps need to be filled.”
The legal action the EU has already started over the UK shelving earlier promised checks would end up in the European Court of Justice”, with the case likely “in early autumn”.
In an interview after the meeting, Lord Frost hit out at Brussels, saying: “What the EU is insisting on is we should operate the protocol in an extremely purist way.
“The reality is that it’s a very balanced document that’s designed to support the peace process and deal with the very sensitive politics in Northern Ireland.”
But Mr Šefčovič insisted the EU was ready to compromise, over the supply of medicines, VAT on second-hand cars, livestock movements and steel tariffs and “many other examples”.
“But we cannot undo the core of the Protocol,” he warned, threatening “cross-retaliation” measures that would undo the zero-tariff, zero-quota deal the UK secured at Christmas.
Asked what part of the Brexit deal would be suspended, Mr Šefčovič pointed to “trade parts, services part” and “other measures”, but added: “I wouldn’t specify them right now.
“We really do not have the menu. We didn’t come here to tell them we are going to do this and that precisely, we just told them there is such a possibility – let’s avoid this.”
However, the vice-president said it was “not true” that the EU is discussing an emergency plan to restrict Ireland’s access to the single market to solve the crisis, as reported.
Asked if he hoped for “an intervention from Joe Biden” when the US president arrives at the G7 summit, he pointed out that the administration was “following this very closely”.
Ahead of a face-to-face meeting with Mr Johnson in Cornwall, Mr Biden’s national security adviser said his message would be the need to protect the peace process.
“Whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday agreement and not imperil that. And that is the message that President Biden will send when he is in Cornwall,” Jake Sullivan said.
