The United Kingdom and the European Union avoided on Wednesday the so-called sausage war by agreeing to extend the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol grace period for chilled meat coming from Great Britain to the UK province until September 30, the UK government announced
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2021) The United Kingdom and the European Union avoided on Wednesday the so-called sausage war by agreeing to extend the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol grace period for chilled meat coming from Great Britain to the UK province until September 30, the UK government announced.
"We are pleased we have been able to agree a sensible extension on chilled meats moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland - one that does not require rules in the rest of the UK to align with future changes in EU agrifood rules," UK Brexit minister David Frost was quoted as saying.
The extension means that Northern Ireland consumers will be able to buy chilled meat such as sausages from the rest of UK, and allows for further discussion to continue on a permanent solution.
As part of the Brexit agreement, Northern Ireland remained in the European single market and customs unions after the United Kingdom left the bloc for good on December 31, 2020.
Although there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, all goods and animal-based products coming from the rest of the UK territories must be checked upon arrival to Northern Ireland to comply with the EU sanitary regulations, leading to delays in the arrival of products and protests from unionist loyal to London.
The UK government had unilaterally attempted to push back the full implementation of checks on supermarket goods and parcels beyond the June 30 deadline to prevent shortage of chilled meat products in the UK province due to delays caused by the customs checks and paperwork, but the EU warned such move would undermine the protocol, and threatened London with legal action.
According to Frost, the agreement reached on Wednesday is a "very clear sign that the Protocol has to be operated in a pragmatic and proportionate way."
