This David Frost resigns As Boris Johnson’s Brexit minister has sounded the alarm in Brussels, officials are not sure what measures the Prime Minister will take in the new year.
In recent weeks, the British government has softened its attitude towards post-Brexit arrangements. Northern Ireland, The two sides promoted the Christmas truce in a relatively positive way during the negotiations.
The worrying thing is that Johnson will feel the need to replace Lord Frost with someone who wants to unlock new methods under the tremendous pressure of his Conservative Party power to restrict Covid.
On Sunday, it was reported that former work and pension secretary Ian Duncan Smith, and even David Davis, who resigned from Theresa May, and others Brexit The secretary in 2018 may be running for election. Both have called for the abandonment of the Northern Ireland Agreement in the past.
An EU diplomat said: “I hope that the new negotiators will be more pragmatic and make good relations with the EU and its member states a priority in pursuing a pure and confrontational Brexit-we will not hold our breath.”
Frost served as Johnson’s two-and-a-half years as the solver of the Brexit issue and has always been Brussels’ combative and difficult negotiating partner. He is recognized as both the prime minister’s ear and one of the most outspoken Brexit people in the Conservative Party.His obvious support Obvious tone change The policy in recent weeks has been considered positive.
Although the European Union has not fully accepted this change and insisted that Downing Street is still seeking to violate its past agreement, the UK has been proposing to focus on issues surrounding trade frictions rather than seeking a more thorough rewrite of the agreement.
However, despite some concerns about the future, Brussels will not shed tears because Frost has left the scene. He is willing to push the negotiations to the edge, even on the sensitive issue of the Irish border.
Frost succeeded and completed the negotiation of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol in the withdrawal agreement. This compromise guaranteed that there would be no borders on the island of Ireland. However, the Minister has always been severely critical of this arrangement, which actually keeps Northern Ireland in the EU’s single goods market and delineates customs borders along the coast of the Irish Sea.
His July order document emphasized that the Johnson administration was forced to accept this result due to the mistake of the previous prime minister.
Frost tried to unravel most of the content of the transaction, and his most controversial requirement was that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) should not be the arbiter of disputes over the implementation of Northern Ireland law.
In recent days, people have begun to accept the idea that the European Court of Justice will play a role, even though it serves only as a reference point for EU law for independent arbitration panels. Frost insisted privately that this was not a new position, but other British officials said it was a shift, suggesting that the dialogue within the government is difficult.
Diplomats and officials in Brussels were not generous in their evaluation of the minister called the “Great Frost” by the prime minister.
“Lord Frost never completed Brexit; he actually made sure that it could tolerate using the Northern Ireland Agreement to achieve his goals,” said a senior EU diplomat. “But one year after the deal he negotiated, what did it bring to the UK? Except for mistrust and worsening relations with most member states?”
The diplomat added: “Frost seems to have a very ideological idea about the meaning of Brexit, but this did not bring about good neighborly relations. For now, the European Court of Justice is for Downing Street. A bridge that is too far away, but whether we will indeed see a more pragmatic route emerge depends on his successor.”
Another major issue that needs Frost’s successor’s attention is fisheries, and the French government continues to insist that it is difficult to do in terms of permits to operate ships in British waters.
Frost also expressed disappointment that the UK failed to obtain access to the European Union’s research and innovation program Horizon Europe. Two months ago, Bill Cash, chairman of the European Review Committee of the House of Commons and senior member of Parliament, claimed that British scientists were excluded from the £80 billion flagship research project due to the ongoing dispute over Northern Ireland.
