Dublin (PA Media/dpa) – Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has accused the British government of dismissing EU solutions to the Northern Ireland Protocol before they are published.
Simon Coveney also accused the British Government of «shifting the playing field» away from solving issues around the controversial protocol.
He made the comments in response to the Brexit minister Stephen Barclay’s demand to drop the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Lord Frost, Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator, is to give a speech on Tuesday in which he will make removing the role of the ECJ in Northern Ireland a red-line issue.
«Each time that the European Union comes forward with new ideas and new proposals to try and solve problems, they are dismissed before they are released, and that’s happening again this week,» Coveney said.
He said European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic and his negotiating team had spent months preparing a package to resolve ongoing issues, which they will publish on Wednesday.
In a tweet at the weekend, Coveney argued that the British government had created a new «red line» over the ECJ.
He admitted that his tweet in response to the comments was «not very
diplomatic,» but said it was «not very diplomatic» of the British government to brief the British media.
«David Frost accuses me of raising issues on social media. It’s a bit rich, quite frankly, because he is briefing British media effectively to say ‘Well, the EU can make the changes that they need to make, but actually it’s not enough, we want more’, and now it’s the ECJ is the main issue,» Coveney told RTE’s Morning Ireland radio programme.