EU bids to ease Ireland's anger over Brexit border move

DUBLIN: EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic appeared before Irish lawmakers Tuesday in a bid to soothe lingering anger over the bloc's bungled plan to breach a post-Brexit pact designed to guarantee peace in Northern Ireland.

Brussels, Dublin and London were plunged into chaos on January 29 when a coronavirus vaccine row caused the European Union to unveil plans to unilaterally undo elements of the "Northern Ireland protocol".

The special post-Brexit trade rules -- painstakingly negotiated since Britain's 2016 decision to split from the bloc -- had been operating for less than one month.

An outcry from Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland forced the EU into a speedy U-turn -- reversing a plan now widely considered to have been a diplomatic bungle.

"The bottom line is that mistakes were made in the process leading up to the decision and we deeply regret that," Sefcovic said Tuesday, striking a contrite tone in Ireland's EU affairs committee.

"I think that it would be better not to engage anymore in the blame game, where I think we acknowledge the mistake was made."

However, Irish lawmakers -- who are overwhelmingly pro-EU -- remain shaken by the debacle.

"The announcement that was made on January the 29th was actually for us probably far greater than a mistake," said Regina Doherty.

She said the EU made a "rookie" error in reacting "emotionally" during the vaccine row.

And she expressed concern about Sefcovic's refusal to outline details of events which led to the proposed breach -- suggesting he was attempting to protect EU Commission staff from scrutiny.

"I think it's really important for us ... to understand how that happened so that we can be really assured that it will never happen again," she said.

Britain formally left the EU last year, but the effects of the split were fully felt when a transition period expired on January 1.

From that date, the "Northern Ireland protocol" came into effect -- designed to prevent the emergence of a "hard border" between Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom, and its EU neighbour, the Republic of Ireland.

The 310 mile (500 kilometre) boundary was a former flashpoint in The Troubles, the sectarian conflict which wound down in 1998.

The protocol removed the need for hard infrastructure on the border by shifting customs and regulatory checks to Northern Irish ports, on goods arriving from mainland Britain.

A special "Article 16" measure allows London or Brussels to unilaterally change the deal in certain circumstances.

The EU planned to trigger the mechanism to stop coronavirus vaccines flowing out of the bloc's territory over the Irish border, as Brussels reacted to a slow jab rollout.

The move undermined an argument made by Ireland and the EU throughout Brexit negotiations -- that the protocol is essential to preserving peace and should not be tampered with.