A EU official said the problems the UK is currently facing are a “direct result of a very very badly implemented Brexit by the Brexiteers”.
Austrian MEP Andreas Schieder, rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the EU is not at fault for UK’s issues, and insisted the bloc has always said they would keep being flexible.
His statements come as the UK government said it wants to remove the European Court of Justice from overseeing the Northern Ireland Protocol, where the EU could take the UK if it does not respect the agreement signed.
‘Red lines we will not accept to go over’
Schieder said: “We want to protect the integrity of the single market and we want to also protect the Good Friday Agreement and the peace in Northern Ireland, so whenever it comes to how we can make it easier, we said we will always be flexible.
“But we will not accept that we go over some red lines and one is the responsibility of the European Court and also, the European Court has nothing to do with the question of sausages, empty shelves in British supermarkets or other issues. So therefore, this is an ideological point of Brexit.
“At the beginning of all this Brexit mess, we always asked the UK government what kind of future relations they wanted and they never can give the answer.”
‘Very badly implemented Brexit by the Brexiteers’
He added: “We see now the results of Brexit, it’s empty shelves in the supermarkets, no butchers in slaughterhouses, problems at the gas stations.
“This is a direct result of a very very badly implemented Brexit by the Brexiteers and it’s not the fault of the European Union at all.”
Earlier this year, Schieder said “only a partnership in which both sides stick to their commitments has a future”, upon the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
But, at the time, the European Parliament condemned UK’s “unilateral actions in breach of the Withdrawal Agreement”.
They warned one of the EP’s priorities is to preserve peace in island of Ireland when establishing the future EU-UK relationship.
‘Unilateral deviations’
MEPs have called on the UK government to “act in good faith and fully implement the terms of the agreements which it has signed’, including the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.
They also said the European Parliament will be closely monitoring how the agreement is applied, to ensure its views will be taken into account.
Christophe Hansen, rapporteur for the Committee on International Trade, said in April: “Ratification of the agreement is not a vote of blind confidence in the UK government’s intention to implement our agreements in good faith.
“Rather, it is an EU insurance policy against further unilateral deviations from what was jointly agreed. Parliament will remain vigilant.”
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