The tensions between

Boris Johnson

and his former partners in the European Union, on account of the Irish Protocol, have escalated in the final hours of the

G7

summit

in Cornwall and have frustrated the attempts of the "premier" to project the international image of the United Kingdom after Brexit.


The comments attributed to the French president

Emanuel Macron

, allegedly insinuating that Northern Ireland is not a "complete part" of the United Kingdom, have provoked the withering reaction of Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, who condemned them as "offensive".


As The Sunday Times reveals, Boris Johnson illustrated to Macron the internal barriers raised by the Irish Protocol:

"What would you think if the judges prevented the shipment of sausages from Toulouse to Paris?"

"It is not a good comparison because Toulouse and Paris are part of the same country," Macron allegedly replied. French diplomatic sources qualified the version of The Sunday Times claiming that what Macron meant is that France is a unitary country, in contrast to the

"four nations" that make up the United Kingdom.

"We have heard senior representatives of the EU hinting something like that Northern Ireland is something like a different country to the United Kingdom," replied Dominic Raab, speaking to Sky News.

"This is not only offensive, it has great effects and creates great consternation in the communities of Northern Ireland."

"

Can you imagine if we spoke of Catalonia

, the Flemish part of Belgium, a lander from Germany, northern Italy or Corsica as if they were other countries?", The British Foreign Secretary asked.

"What we need is a little respect and frankly a little appreciation towards the situation of the communities in Northern Ireland."


The controversial Protocol, contained in the Brexit agreement, creates the closest thing to an internal customs office in the Irish Sea. Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, Ulster is still aligned with the rules of the Single Market, which requires the installation of controls in its ports (this option was arrived at precisely to avoid the return to the hard border on land).

London has accused Brussels of making a

"purist and inflexible"

interpretation

of the Protocol, without taking into account the social tensions it is causing and how it affects the daily lives of Northern Irishmen. The EU blames the British government for breaching its commitments and unilaterally extending "grace periods", including the one that expires on June 30 on the import of meat products and which has given rise to the so-called "sausage war".

"The problem is not the sausages, but the fact that we have an

agreement that has been signed by the United Kingdom,

" Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin stressed from Dublin.

"If there is a consistent and bilateral deviation from that agreement, that affects the broader relationship between the EU and the UK, so we have a lot of hard work ahead of us these weeks."

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  • Brexit

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