BRUSSELS, Belgium (CU)_President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen says that she “deeply regrets” the mistakes in the decision to suspend part of the Brexit deal agreement on Northern Ireland in a vaccine supply row.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 10), she said: “The bottom line is that mistakes were made and the process leading up to the decision, and I deeply regret that.”
The apology comes ahead of the emergency talks scheduled between Britain and the European Union over the Irish Border protocol.
Accordingly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top minister on Brexit affairs, Michael Gove, and European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, will meet on Thursday to try to resolve the dispute over border checks on goods entering Northern Ireland.
Less than two weeks ago, the Commission President sparked huge controversy across the EU and anger in London, Dublin and Belfast, when she attempted to add a provision to the bloc’s vaccination export ban, which could have seen checks at the border of Northern Ireland to prevent vaccine shipments entering the UK.
Although the EU Commission refused to identify who inserted the provision into the regulation, however, last week, von der Leyen told members of the European Parliament that she accepted “full responsibility” for the blunder.
While the decision to trigger the Brexit border rules, known as Article 16, was soon reversed following widespread criticism from London, Dublin and Belfast, nevertheless, the move was seized upon by Britain and the North’s unionists, who are keen to address Northern Ireland’s special status.
Officials in Brussels have noted increasing impatience with the UK’s aggressive response and there is a renewed risk the island of Ireland could be ‘squeezed’ as a result.
Despite her apology for the botched border move, the former German defence minister defended her subsequent decision in reversing the move and pledged to continue defending Northern Ireland and its fragile peace in a post-Brexit world.
“But in the end, we got it right. I can reassure you that my Commission will do its utmost to protect the peace of Northern Ireland, just as it has done throughout the entire Brexit process,” von der Leyen asserted.
