The Secretary of State for European Affairs of Germany, Michael Roth, has asked the Government of Boris Johnson on Tuesday "regain sanity" in the negotiations with Brussels on compliance with the Irish protocol agreed for Brexit, so that solutions can be reached "pragmatic" that make it possible to save this crisis.
"Dear friends in London and Great Britain, please regain your sanity!", said Roth in statements to the press in Brussels, upon his arrival at a meeting of EU ministers on General Affairs that will include a balance on these negotiations.
The German diplomat recalled how difficult it was to reach an agreement on the divorce between the EU and the United Kingdom after "arduous" and long negotiations, while emphasizing that the result allowed to establish "clear agreements".
In this way, Roth ugly to London that it has decided unilaterally to breach the protocol designed to avoid the return to a physical border in Ulster between the two Irish women and warns the British that "it’s not a game".
For weeks now, the teams of the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for relations with the United Kingdom, Maros Sefcovic, and the British Minister for Brexit, David Frost, have been negotiating to unblock the situation and help with solutions "pragmatic", in the words of Brussels, the application of the provisions of the protocol.
The EU believes that London, which complains about the complexity of the system and the costs derived from its compliance, is not taking real steps to bring positions closer and defends that its latest offer to significantly reduce controls and tariffs and facilitate the passage of generic drugs it has been very generous.
Also the Secretary of State for European Affairs of Slovenia, current presidency of the EU, Gasper Dovzan, has insisted on underlining on his arrival at the 27 meeting that any solution must be framed within what has already been negotiated and agreed between the EU and the UK.
"It is very clear that the most important thing for the EU is to have a legal framework that works for everyone, but we are determined to find flexible solutions within that framework.", has indicated Dovzan, who has also said that from what he understands the British side is also "anxious" for advancing in that line.
Following last week’s round of negotiations, Sefcovic confirmed that he had seen a change in "tone" in the British delegation, which in the previous weeks had threatened to activate the mechanism that allows the agreement to be suspended unilaterally and now claimed to find a solution acceptable to all.
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