German Foreign Minister Analena Baerbock has taken aim at Brexit ahead of a showdown with her UK counterpart James Cleverly. She said the UK’s decision to leave the EU put the Irish peace process at risk, saying the EU and UK have a responsibility to “protect and implement” the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Ms Baebock said: “Brexit was and is a watershed for all of us. That applies particularly to the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland due to the division of the island of Ireland.
“It was only in 1998 that the Good Friday Agreement brought peace after more than 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland.
“This peace, the fact that hostilities have ceased and both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland can once again live alongside one another in a spirit of good neighborliness must not be jeopardized under any circumstances.”
She added: “Yet precisely this is at stake as a result of Brexit and its consequences for trade, freedom of movement and other issues.”
Ms Baerbock said the Protocol prevented “a hard border on the island of Ireland and thus also the reopening of old wounds”.
She added: “All of us – in the EU member states and in the United Kingdom – have a responsibility to protect and to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
Her comments came after the UK Foreign Secretary suggested that Germany’s position on the protocol might not be as strong as it seems.
Mr Cleverly said Germany’s strong commitment to the Northern Ireland Protocol was “an avatar”, adding: “I think often what people say they want and what people actually want are subtly different”.
The German government signed a coalition agreement which explicitly states that post-Brexit agreements, including the Northern Ireland Protocol, had to be “fully implemented”.
The UK has been locked in talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol – which was agreed as part of the withdrawal agreement to avoid a hard border in Ireland post-Brexit – since October 2021.
It allows Northern Ireland to remain within the EU’s single market for goods but it has faced criticism because a border was effectively created between Great Britain and Northern Ireland down the Irish Sea.
The border has led to delays, supermarket shortages and increased costs for businesses in Northern Ireland.
There has been no functioning government in Stormont since the elections last May, as the DUP has refused to restore power sharing unless the Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped.
An election was triggered in Stormont in October after the executive was blocked from meeting due to the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Earlier this week, a bill extending the deadline for fresh elections to be held in Northern Ireland passed its third reading in the Commons.
The bill – introduced by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris last week – is being fast-tracked through Parliament, passing all three stages in one day.
It will extend the deadline for the Northern Ireland Assembly to be formed until December 8, with the possibility of a further six-week extension to January 19.
There has been no functioning government in Stormont since the elections last May, as the DUP has refused to restore power sharing unless the Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped.
