EU compromise on Northern Ireland Protocol could avert further ‘sausage wars’

The European Commission plans to offer an exception to the Northern Ireland Protocol which would permit “national identity goods” such as sausage to enter the region, despite general EU rules restricting chilled meats from non-EU countries.

The protocol was implemented to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the wake of Brexit, and by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods.

“Well, we do have the Sausage King on the EU team,” an EU official said, referring to European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who was given his nickname by Lord Frost’s predecessor Michael Gove.

Earlier this year there was a possibility of shops in Northern Ireland being banned from selling British sausages after the Protocol’s grace period expired.

This brought the UK and EU close to a trade war.

Lord Frost said he would consider triggering Article 16 to suspend the deal to keep the supplies flowing and Brussels said they would retaliate with trade tariffs in what was dubbed the ‘sausage wars’.

Earlier this month Brexit minister Lord Frost told the House of Lords that it would be a “significant mistake” to assume the UK would not trigger Article 16, the part of the Northern Ireland Protocol which permits elements of the deal being temporarily suspended if they are evidenced to be causing “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade.”

The UK and EU are expected to commence intensive negotiations over the Protocol later this month.