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ARCHIVED - Spain urges UK to honour Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol
Spain has expressed its “solidarity with Ireland” on the Brexit trade agreement
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has urged that UK government to stand by the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed as a result of Brexit and to avoid making any “unilateral moves” that would jeopardise the entire trade agreement.
“Spain, after Ireland, is probably the country that has been affected most by Brexit,” Mr Albares said at a press conference in Madrid on Friday May 13.
“Given that situation, we've shared our solidarity with Ireland amid this difficult situation and these critical negotiations.”
Initiated in 2021, the Northern Ireland Protocol requires goods such as milk and eggs entering from the UK to undergo stringent checks, something which has created an “unsustainable situation” for the British market and has created barriers for the movement of products across the Irish Sea, according to UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Boris Johnson has already confirmed that the UK government is preparing legislation to change the protocol unilaterally as “insurance” in case the negotiations with the EU fail, a move which Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Michael Coveney, said will result in Britain “breaking international law”.
“Six years on and we're still talking about the consequences of Brexit,” Mr Coveney lamented. “And this week, unfortunately, we’ve seen increased tension in terms of some of the language used by London.”
The Spanish minister also warned the UK government against making the decision out of hand, stressing that the way forward is through negotiation.
“Spain would not understand if the UK took unilateral action. All agreements between the EU and UK, like all international agreements, must be respected,” said Mr Albares. “I don’t want to even hypothesise the alternative, but Spain is ready for whatever happens.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing talks between Spain and the UK over the British territory of Gibraltar are “moving along well,” while some “concrete texts have been put on the table,” according to Mr Albares.
“We hope that the UK will be constructive and open in the negotiations, and not the opposite,” he added.
Image: Pixabay
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