Britain hit back at EU officials' comments about Northern Ireland, warning the EU to take the British government's threat to suspend part of the Brexit deal "seriously".
Britain and the European Union are still wrangling over the future of Northern Ireland. After Brexit, Northern Ireland effectively remained in the EU's single market and customs union to avoid establishing trade borders on the island of Ireland.
On the contrary, the border is placed on the Irish sea, thus disrupting the flow of goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The British government wants to rewrite the solution and says the current trade situation makes it reasonable to unilaterally suspend some of the agreements.
"We have to have real negotiations with the EU," Brexit Minister David Frost told the House of Lords on Monday. "Real negotiations do not mean that the EU proposes its own solution within the framework of the existing agreement and presents it to us in the form of 'take it or leave it'."
Speaking in Northern Ireland last week, Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission, said he was committed to making the flow of goods easier and resolving the problems caused by Brexit, but that the EU would not seek a full renegotiation.