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As the high stakes spat between the EU and the UK continued last week, the Government asked the EU for three extra months of checks-free imports of chilled meat in Northern Ireland from Great Britain. If the bloc refuses, it would mean batches of sausages arriving at points of entry – Belfast, Larne, Warrenpoint and Foyle – would be subject to stringent checks from July 1.
Brussels insists such checks are necessary because the Six Counties remains part of the EU single market post-Brexit but Boris Johnson threatened to tear the protocol up if not granted an extension.
But now an insider in Brussels has suggested the 27-member bloc is willing to grant London’s request for more leeway on trade in a bid to avoid an all-out sausage war.
The senior EU official told The Sunday Times that the European Commission would “most probably” grant the British request.
They claimed the bloc had “no interest in entering a sausage war at this stage”.
Mr Johnson had threatened to ignore EU regulations by sending batches of sausages across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland where they would end up on dinner plates without having undergone any border checks.
The six-month grace period on borderless trade agreed between London and Brussels was aimed at allowing Northern Irish supermarkets to continue to import meats from the mainland.
This concession is due to end on June 30.
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