UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has demanded the European Union extend the grace periods issued for goods traveling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom after the EU last week temporarily, in effect, created a hard border on the island of Ireland, according to the contents of a letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph newspaper
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2021) UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has demanded the European Union extend the grace periods issued for goods traveling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom after the EU last week temporarily, in effect, created a hard border on the island of Ireland, according to the contents of a letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
In the letter addressed to European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, Gove said that grace periods given to Northern Irish supermarkets and their suppliers, which were initially meant to run for only three months, "must be extended until at least 1 January 2023," as quoted by the newspaper.
The Cabinet Office minister called for a similar two-year extension for firms that move chilled meat products between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that allowed the UK to leave the bloc back on January 31, 2020, gives London or Brussels the right to take unilateral action when the protocol is leading to "economic, societal or environmental difficulties."
The European Union triggered the article last week in relation to the bloc's new COVID-19 vaccine export mechanism, which requires manufacturers to receive authorization before exporting doses produced in the bloc. Brussels quickly reversed the decision, although leaders in both London and Dublin have criticized the EU.
"I had expected a strong response, but the reaction was even more negative than I had anticipated. Across all political parties, civic society and business organisations in Northern Ireland there was a sense of shock and anger," Gove said in the letter.
The Cabinet Office minister called for rebuilding trust and confidence between London and Brussels in a "calm but effective manner." He added that protecting the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 treaty that brought an end to decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, was of paramount importance.
Northern Ireland suspended customs checks on goods arriving from the rest of the United Kingdom on Tuesday after threatening graffiti branding workers as "targets" was found at the port of Belfast.
