European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic holds a joint news conference with the Portugal's European Affairs Secretary in Brussels, on Jan 18, 2021. (JOHANNA GERON / POOL / AFP)

BRUSSELS - The European Union rejected on Wednesday most of Britain’s demands for easier trade with Northern Ireland but said it was examining more flexibility on steel.

As regards additional flexibilities concerning the application of Union law applicable in Northern Ireland with regard to meat products, export health certificates and parcel and express services I would like to recall that blanket derogations ... cannot be agreed beyond what the Protocol foresees already.

Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice President

In a letter to British Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said the EU executive arm was “examining possible amendments” to make steel imports into Northern Ireland from Britain count against the tariffs quota given by the EU to Britain.

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But the EU rejected calls for more time, until Jan 1, 2023, for British supermarkets and their suppliers to adjust to the new customs border on the Irish Sea for goods shipped to the province, including chilled meat, parcels and medicines.

The customs border between Britain and Northern Ireland was created as part of the deal on Britain’s exit from the European Union so as to prevent the creation of a hard border between the province and the rest of the island of Ireland.

“As regards additional flexibilities concerning the application of Union law applicable in Northern Ireland with regard to meat products, export health certificates and parcel and express services I would like to recall that blanket derogations ... cannot be agreed beyond what the Protocol foresees already,” Sefcovic wrote.

Sefcovic is due to meet Gove on Thursday in London for further talks.

Certain European Union states “need to cool it” and “dial down the rhetoric” on relations with Britain, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday ahead of the meeting.

“There is elements that the British government could sort out, but likewise on the European side, I would say some member states need to cool it as well,” Martin told RTE radio. “I think we need to dial down the rhetoric on both sides here.”

On Feb 3, Gove asked for the removal of barriers on pet travel between Britain and Northern Ireland and movement of seed potatoes and other plants and plant products, but the EU appeared to reject that as well.

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“As regards the issue of pet travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of movements of seed potatoes and other plants and plant products, any flexibility would entail the United Kingdom committing to align with the relevant EU rules,” Sefcovic said.