Macron and Von der Leyen press Johnson for the Ireland Protocol on the first day of the G7
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived on the stormy shores of Cornwall ready to remind Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his relaunch as a global leader necessarily requires compliance with international treaties.
One day after his first and fruitful meeting with US President Joe Biden – “our relationship is indestructible” – the “premier” had no choice but to turn to starboard and dispatch with his former partners from the European Union, who arrived at the G7 summit ready to make it touch down.
“The Irish Protocol is the only solution and it must be fully implemented,” warned Ursula von der Leyen, before her personal meeting with Boris Johnson in Carbis Bay. As a background, the “sausage war”, the latest episode of the tensions that do not cease after Brexit (caused this time by the end of the “grace period” on June 30 for the free movement of frozen meat products between Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
“We cannot review in June what we already finished in December after years of negotiation,” warned Emmanuel Macron.. “This is not serious”. “If after six months you cannot respect what you have negotiated, that means that you are not going to respect anything,” added the French president.. “I believe in the weight of treaties.”
Boris Johnson has tried to tiptoe over the Ulster issue, which has crept against his will into his internationalist agenda for the summit, marked by pandemic recovery, vaccine diplomacy and climate change.
The “premier” took advantage of his first meeting with Joe Biden (whom he defined as “a breath of fresh air”) to leave behind his “special relationship” with Donald Trump and seek what he himself defined on the BBC as “a more meaningful and profound” with the new tenant of the White House.
Most analysts, however, criticized the signing of the so-called “new Atlantic Charter” (in homage to the one signed by Churchill and Roosevelt in 1941) as a mere Johnson-style coup d'état, just like his proposal of “a Marshall plan” for climate change, which the “premier” intends to promote as a preamble to the Cop26 in Glasgow.
Johnson confirmed the G7 commitment to donate 1 billion Covid vaccines, including 100 million from the UK (one fifth of the doses purchased).. The “premier” defended himself against the criticism received for not setting the bar higher (Joe Biden announced the donation of 500 million from the US) and argued that his country is already one of the largest contributors to Covax, the global initiative of access to vaccines, with the equivalent of 630 million euros.
The G7 summit at the Carbis Bay “blockhouse”, guarded by more than 5,000 police officers, has been designed to avoid disruption by demonstrations by environmental groups, virtually confined to distant Falmouth, some 50 kilometers away, at all costs. where the press headquarters have been set up. It is estimated that the security device to shield the leaders of the seven richest countries on the planet -amplified by the Covid restrictions- has cost some 80 million euros.