Welcome news': relief as EU backtracks on NI
Covid vaccine move
Irish foreign minister warns Northern Ireland protocol
‘not something to be tampered with lightly’
Lisa
O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
@lisaocarroll
Fri 29 Jan
2021 23.41 GMT
The EU has
said it is “not triggering the safeguard clause” to block Covid vaccine exports
from the bloc to Northern Ireland after widespread condemnation of the move.
The EU’s
initial decision to trigger a Brexit deal clause to place controls on the
export of vaccines sparked criticism on both sides of Irish border and led to
frantic talks including a call between the UK and Ireland to avert a full-scale
crisis.
On news
that the move to trigger article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol was not
going ahead, the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, tweeted that it was a
“welcome decision by the European commission” and “a positive development given
the many challenges we face in tackling Covid-19”.
Ireland’s
foreign minister, Simon Coveney, described the U-turn as “welcome news” but
warned in a tweet: “Lessons should be learned; the protocol is not something to
be tampered with lightly, it’s an essential, hard won compromise, protecting
peace and trade for many.”
The
European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had spoken to
Martin to agree a “satisfactory way” to impose export authorisations for
coronavirus vaccines. The move comes amid a deepening row over the allocation
of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after the company announced delays to its EU
operations.
Spain’s
foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, told BBC’s Newsnight the use of
article 16 was an “accident” and “a mishap” that had been “repaired”.
Before the
EU’s U-turn, a No 10 spokesperson had said the UK was “urgently seeking an
explanation from the European commission” about the move. They added that Boris
Johnson and Martin had held a “constructive discussion” about the events.
“The UK has
legally binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and it would not expect the
EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt the fulfilment of these
contracts,” the spokesperson said, adding that the UK has “reiterated the
importance of preserving the benefits of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement”.
Article 16
was agreed in the original withdrawal agreement and gives both sides the power
to unilaterally introduce checks on goods if not doing so could result in
“serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties”.
It is
designed as a “last resort” but would have been used as an emergency brake on
the UK government using Northern Ireland as a back door route to secure EU
supplies of the Covid vaccine in the event of a blockade.
Irish
government sources told reporters the initial decision was “completely
unnecessary” and had “explosive political implications”.
Arlene
Foster, Stormont’s first minister, had branded the decision to use article 16
an “incredible act of hostility”. She added it was a “despicable” move that
would create the hard border on the island of Ireland that the Northern Ireland
protocol was designed to prevent.
The
European commission said the move was “justified as a safeguard measure
pursuant to article 16 of that protocol in order to avert serious societal
difficulties due to a lack of supply threatening to disturb the orderly
implementation of the vaccination campaigns in the member states”.
It is
believed the decision was made without consultation with either the UK or
Ireland government.
This is an
extraordinary misjudgement … There was no discussion about this and came like a
shot out of the blue
Senior EU
source
Before the
U-turn, a senior EU diplomatic source said: “This is an extraordinary
misjudgement and shows a complete misunderstanding of the protocol and article
16, which is meant to be used as a last resort. There was no discussion about
this and came like a shot out of the blue.”
They warned
that tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol had risen over the past
fortnight with traders unhappy with the extent of checks on goods traded across
the Irish Sea and controversy over the future movement of troops between Great
Britain and NI.
“Irrespective
of what Brexit we got, we knew there were going to be unforeseen consequences
and these issues go to the very core of the troubles, sensitivities over
identity and sovereignty and instead of the EU taking every effort to tackle
the vaccine issue with the British government it has decided to use the
Northern Ireland protocol.
“To
retaliate in this way using the Northern Ireland protocol as a football is very
dangerous,” they said.
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