UK threat over NI Brexit deal ‘breeding mistrust in EU capitals’
The UK government’s plan to walk away from parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal is destroying the repaired relationship with the EU, political leaders and diplomats have said.
Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, told a business dinner in Dublin on Tuesday night that the move was “breeding mistrust in EU capitals”.
A measure of the anger and disbelief within the EU was reflected in a tweet posted by the German diplomat Sebastian Fischer, considered one of the most mild-mannered of his cadre in Brussels.
“Let’s just all threaten each other with breaking international law. Makes for really good partnerships #Brexit,” he tweeted on Tuesday evening.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Let’s just all threaten each other with breaking international law. Makes for really good partnerships. #Brexit“If you are wondering what friends and allies think …” tweeted Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, in response.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>If you’re wondering what friends and allies think…… #Brexit https://t.co/RWnmM1AqZLThere is a growing feeling of disbelief and disappointment in the EU over the UK’s position, given the goodwill that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, had built up over Ukraine.
One EU diplomat said unilateral action was “neither necessary nor desirable”, adding that the timing could not be worse.
“One would imagine that the foreign secretary [of the UK, Liz Truss,] to be well placed to assess the geostrategic implications of her actions, but she seems to prioritise domestic politics over peace and stability on the European continent,” the source said.
“The fact that the UK government is talking openly about breaching international law is a matter of concern,” Varadkar said. “[It] stands in
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