Tensions have risen again between the United Kingdom and the European Union in recent weeks, this time over the import of sausages and other chilled meats from the rest of the U.K. into Northern Ireland. It looks like a technical dispute that can be solved with some flexibility on both sides. But make no mistake: This “sausage war,” as the British press calls it, is deeply political. The U.K. is challenging the rules-based order that is the raison d’être of the EU, and is trying to force the EU into accepting that the Brexit deal does not need to be adhered to when the U.K. does not like its legal provisions. Two fundamentally different worldviews are colliding here, head-on.
The latest move started in mid-June, when the U.K. asked the EU to extend the grace period that covers the import of chilled meats into Northern Ireland from June 30 to Sept. 30. This would provide “a bit of breathing space,” as U.K. minister and former Brexit negotiator David Frost said, for the standoff between London and Brussels about full implementation of the rules for chilled meats that, according to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland of December 2020, are supposed to come into force on July 1.
