French minister calls British plans to ditch parts of NI protocol "worrying"

BRUSSELS – France’s Europe minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday the United Kingdom should respect its Brexit agreement with the European Union and described as worrying initiatives by London to ditch parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.

“Everyone should respect their word and their signature. You can’t instrumentalise for whatever reason such serious and important matters,” Beaune said.

The British government published legislation earlier this month to tackle disruption to post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, setting out measures it says are needed to protect peace in the British-ruled province but which are sure to antagonise the EU.