BRUSSELS: The European Union stressed Tuesday that it remained committed to seeing the full Brexit agreement with Britain upheld-especially on Northern Ireland-as it congratulated Rishi Sunak on becoming its new prime minister. "A positive EU-UK relationship is of strategic importance," the EU's pointman on post-Brexit ties, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, tweeted.

"I remain committed to working intensively and constructively to foster such a partnership, in full respect of our agreements. "This includes our work on joint solutions under the Protocol on IE/NI," he said, referring to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who also tweeted congratulations, underlined that, "in these testing times for our continent, we count on a strong relationship with the UK to defend our common values, in full respect of our agreements". Under the Brexit agreement, London conceded that the UK territory of Northern Ireland would remain under EU customs rules, effectively drawing a border for EU goods along the Irish Sea, between it and the rest of the United Kingdom.

That was to designed to preserve peace in Northern Ireland as set out in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of conflict and which has the backing of the United States. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, in his own statement congratulating Sunak, said "our shared responsibility" upholding the Good Friday Agreement, "is vital to support peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland".

He said the EU and Britain had an opportunity "to find jointly agreed solutions" on the dispute and urged Sunak "to move quickly to substantive engagement with the EU on that basis". Under Sunak's two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Britain had sought to unilaterally override the Northern Ireland Protocol and brink it back under customs rules set by London. That has created great friction between Brussels and London, risking a confrontation that, if left unresolved, could lead to litigation and EU trade restrictions.

Sunak, who was finance minister under Johnson, has not yet set out publicly his direction on the Northern Ireland Protocol. EU diplomats hope he will strike a more conciliatory stance than his two predecessors, underlining that the bloc and Britain need to cooperate on issues such as energy and Russia's war in Ukraine. - AFP