Johnson meets with EU leaders amid Brexit spat

FALMOUTH: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a G-7 summit, as post-Brexit turbulence strains relations between Britain and the EU.

Johnson also met the bloc's leaders, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, on Saturday at the Carbis Bay resort where G-7 leaders are gathering.

The two sides are locked in an escalating diplomatic feud over Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK that has a land border with the bloc.

The EU is angry at British delay in implementing new checks on some goods coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, while Britain says the checks are imposing a big burden on businesses and destabilizing Northern Ireland's hard-won peace.

The spat has drawn in US President Joe Biden, concerned about the potential threat to Northern Ireland's peace accord.

The EU is threatening legal action if the UK does not fully bring in the checks, which include a ban on chilled meats such as sausages from England, Scotland and Wales going to Northern Ireland from next month.

Britain accuses the bloc of taking a “purist” approach to the rules and urged it to be more flexible in order to avoid what has been dubbed a “sausage war.