During negotiations between the bloc and Britain last year, the Northern Ireland protocol was one of the biggest issues. The protocol was designed to keep trade flowing smoothly on the island and to avoid a hard border and checkpoints.
Under the agreement signed by Mr Johnson and Brussels, Northern Ireland remained part of the EU’s Single Market.
However, tensions between the EU and the UK reached a boiling point after the bloc triggered to use the “nuclear” option of invoking Article 16 following a row over coronavirus vaccine supplies.
Article 16 – which governs the island’s trading arrangements between the bloc and Britain – is intended to be used when the protocol is unexpectedly leading to serious “economic, societal or environmental difficulties”.
But as riots and protests erupt across Northern Ireland, the Republic’s deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has urged the EU to cut any red tape.
Mr Varadkar told a European Movement Ireland seminar: “In practice, despite our enormous differences, Ireland aligned itself with the United Kingdom on most of the everyday issues that the European Union dealt with.
“As a free-trade, pro-enterprise and pro-competition champion, we tended to adopt similar positions and similar opt-outs to the UK.
“The European Union with the United Kingdom is a weaker and poorer place.”
But Mr Varadkar added how achieving progress requires “realism, generosity, practicality and reduced officiousness from Brussels”.
READ MORE: EU pleads to ‘talk seriously’ to Boris after deal blow
This week, Brexit minister Lord Frost travelled to Brussels in a fresh bid to resolve tensions over Mr Johnson’s trade deal.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This meeting is part of our ongoing engagement with the EU to work through the outstanding issues with the protocol, in order to restore confidence on the ground, reflect the needs of communities and respect all dimensions of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.
“The discussions so far have been constructive but there are still significant differences that need to be resolved.
“Both the UK and EU are continuing to engage with business, civil society and other stakeholders in Northern Ireland to understand the issues they are facing.”
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