Brussels (dpa) – CSU European politician Manfred Weber added ratification of a trade deal with Great Britain to settle a dispute over Brexit special rules for Northern Ireland.

If no solution is found for Easter, he does not look at how the EU parliament can ratify the Brexit trade deal in the meantime, after a report in “Spiegel” on Friday by the leader of the group of the European People’s Party said. “We are not going to show Boris Johnson.”

The British government had announced that it would unilaterally suspend import controls in Northern Ireland which were agreed to in a treaty that would be out of the European Union for six months. The unauthorized deviation from the legitimate agreement angered the European Union. Hence it has initiated infringement proceedings.

Maros Sefcovic, the vice chairman of the responsible European Union Commission, was open to a compromise. “Now we understand that optimization is more difficult and companies need more time,” said Sefkovic of “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Friday). The prerequisite for the extension of the grace period, however, is how the British government dictates how they intend to use the extra time. The previous statements are “absolutely inadequate”.

It is about the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which is believed to evade control between British Northern Ireland and the European Union state of Ireland. Now Northern Ireland has customs formalities for deliveries from England, Scotland and Wales.

The EU exit treaty with the protocol was agreed in 2019. The European Union trade agreement with Great Britain came to an end in late December 2020. It is already being provisionally implemented. Ratification by the European Parliament is still pending. The deadline for this is 30 April.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210319-99-890685 / 2