Since the end of the Brexit transition phase at the end of the year, goods that are brought from England, Scotland or Wales to Northern Ireland are to be partially checked in Great Britain as well. The British Government committed itself to this with the withdrawal agreement. This is to avoid cargo control at the land border between Northern Ireland and the EU member Ireland. Tensions are feared in an otherwise pre-Civil War zone, with decades of predominantly Catholic supporters of the unification of Ireland and Protestant supporters of the Union with Great Britain facing each other.

Despite various transition periods, new formalities created difficulties for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Supermarket shelves in the state remained partially empty.

The head of the government of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster of Protestant Confederate DUP, accused Coveney of being deaf to complaints from the Protestant side. He again called for a settlement that was laboriously rejected. “The Northern Telegraph wrote in a guest post,” The Northern Ireland Protocol cannot and does not work.

EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who is responsible for the implementation of the protocol, is scheduled to meet with British Minister of State Michael Gov in the coming week. The two sides agreed to this during a crisis discussion on Wednesday evening via video link. In a letter to Safekovich, Gove had previously requested exceptions to goods control and a significantly longer transition period. Safekovic compromised with the demand that Great Britain should first fully implement the possibilities from the existing agreement.