A call by the DUP to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol is to be debated at Westminster later this month.
More than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for the emergency move by the party within 24 hours.
The UK and EU have reiterated their “full commitment” to the new arrangements governing Britain-to-Northern Ireland trade post-Brexit.
However, DUP leader Arlene Foster said there “has to be a recognition in London, Dublin and Brussels that damage has been done by this protocol and therefore we have to deal with it”.
She said there must be unfettered trade and urged the UK government to step up and protect Northern Ireland with “permanent solutions, not sticking plasters”.
Debate date
Mrs Foster received notice on Friday that the petition will be debated in the UK House of Commons on February 22nd.
“I think it was an indication of how strongly so many people right across the United Kingdom felt about the issue that that petition took off in the way that it did,” she said.
Mrs Foster said there is anger and concern among the unionist community about how the Belfast Agreement is being interpreted in Dublin, Brussels, and “sadly London”.
“I have been saying that as First Minister and DUP leader, my former colleague and friend Peter Robinson said as much again today writing for the News Letter,” she said.
“I think that is a very good article and people should read what has been in there and the way in which the Belfast Agreement has been misused.”
They need to take heed of what is being said by the unionist community
Mrs Foster said the Belfast Agreement has three parts, the parties in Northern Ireland, the North/South dimension and the East/West dimension.
“Once you start damaging one of those strands of the Belfast Agreement, then it does have an impact on the overall operation and I have been saying that for some time,” she said.
“People need to listen to what we’re saying, they need to take heed of what is being said by the unionist community and I hope that the message is being heard in London, and in Dublin and Brussels because we need to deal with this issue and deal with it quickly.”
Extreme action
Mr Robinson told Northern Ireland unionists they could not oppose the protocol at the same time as being part of an administration that implements it.
The former first minister said only extreme action by unionists was likely to extract any significant changes to the protocol.
He indicated that unionists effectively face a choice of learning to live with the new arrangements or collapsing Stormont’s powersharing institutions.
Mr Robinson highlighted that the latter course of action would potentially impact Northern Ireland’s fight against Covid-19.
“Is the scrapping of the protocol more important than the continued operation of the Assembly?” he wrote in the Belfast News Letter.
“A choice may have to be made.”
UK cabinet office minister Michael Gove and the European Commission’s vice president Maros Sefcovic held talks on Thursday night aimed at finding resolution to issues with the protocol’s first six weeks of operation.
A joint statement issued at the conclusion said Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic had a “frank but constructive discussion” in which they agreed to “spare no effort” in implementing solutions.
The two politicians agreed to convene the joint committee tasked with implementation of the protocol no later than February 24th to provide “the necessary political steer”.
Following the meeting, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney described it as a “good day’s work” and said the focus was now on co-operation between the EU and UK to implement the protocol.
