Speech by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič at the Queen's University, Belfast - PART ONE

Key excerpts, with commentary in dark blue by Facts4EU.Org

“The EU has an unshakeable commitment to the people of Northern Ireland to ensure that the peace, stability and prosperity they have enjoyed over the last twenty plus years is preserved. After all, the EU is a peace project itself.”

No. The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement had nothing to do with the EU. The EU’s main contribution has been to “tear up” the Agreement, according to one of its two principal architects, Lord Trimble. The EU’s insistence on retaining Northern Ireland in the Single Market under ECJ jurisdiction means that Northern Ireland is no longer part of the sovereign United Kingdom.

Secondly, the EU is not a peace project. It is a 'projekt' to unify as many countries as possible under central control from Brussels, creating an EU empire. Its overriding mantra is “ever closer union”.

Once again the EU wrongly claims credit for spending UK taxpayers’ money

“We will therefore continue to support the PEACE+ programme, together with the UK and the Irish government, to the tune of around 1 billion euros…. This financial support will be all the more important as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

- EU Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Belfast, 10 Sep 2021

At the very least this qualifies as disinformation. The impression given at a quick read is that the EU has thrown vast amounts of money at the NI peace process. Facts4EU.Org research shows that for the PEACE+ programme the EU is nothing more than a bit-part player.

Speech by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič at the Queen's University, Belfast - PART TWO

Key excerpts, with commentary in dark blue by Facts4EU.Org

“Together, we indeed found such a solution – the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. It serves a number of purposes:

• It protects the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement in all its parts; [No, it has wrecked it.]
• Respects the constitutional order of the United Kingdom; [No, NI has been separated, as confirmed by the NI High Court and in Parliament.]
• Avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland; [The NI Protocol was not needed to avoid that.]
• And preserves the integrity of the EU's Single Market; [NI exports to the Republic of Ireland constitute only 0.02% of all EU imports – how was this ever a risk to ‘the integrity of the Single Market’?]
• While ensuring that the UK as a whole leaves both the Single Market and the EU's Customs Union – a key demand of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.” [No, the UK as a whole did not leave the Single Market and Customs Union. Only GB (England, Scotland and Wales) did. Northern Ireland was abandoned.]

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021

“On the UK side, it agreed that EU rules on goods would remain applicable to Northern Ireland, accepting that this would mean checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, acknowledging a role for the EU's institutions. This is the only way to avoid a hard border between north and south.”

No it was not the only way. As Facts4EU.Org has shown many times using detailed evidence, the Customs authorities of the Republic of Ireland and the Customs authorities of the UK both said they saw no need for a hard border or infrastructure of any kind. They were then prevented by the EU from having any more contact.

“I will not mince my words. The Protocol is not the problem. On the contrary, it is the only solution we have. Failing to apply it will not make problems disappear, but simply take away the tools to solve them. I am, of course, acutely aware of how some in Northern Ireland feel about the Protocol, in particular in the Unionist community.”

No Mr Šefčovič, you clearly are not aware of the strength of opposition in NI, and the Protocol IS the problem. The Unionist community is the majority in Northern Ireland. They (and all people in NI) have been denied any opportunity to give consent, as required under the Belfast Agreement. Furthermore, not one Unionist party in NI supports the Protocol and feelings are becoming more and more inflamed, risking the peace.

“I believe that our focus should be on those issues that matter the most to the people of Northern Ireland, and not on requests, such as removing the role of the European Court of Justice. Doing this would effectively mean cutting Northern Ireland off [from] the EU's Single Market and related opportunities.”

This is wholly disingenuous. The issues have all been caused by the EU’s refusal even to consider the practical solutions put forward by the people whose job it is to manage cross-border trade, nor the subsequent proposals which are mostly based on these, by think-tanks and politicians, including the CBP paper.

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021