Boris Johnson has been warned by the EU to "implement what we agreed" on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland amid a sausage trade row.
Ahead of the second day of the G7 summit in Cornwall, the prime minister held a series of morning meetings with EU leaders in which they discussed the continuing tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Number 10 denied Mr Johnson viewed the dispute as overshadowing his efforts at the Carbis Bay summit, where he is keen to strike global agreements on COVID vaccines and climate change.
The prime minister met with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.
After the talks, Ms von der Leyen said the protocol, which was agreed and signed by Mr Johnson as part of the Brexit deal, "preserves" the Good Friday Agreement and peace on the island of Ireland.
She posted on Twitter: "We want the best possible relations with the UK.
"Both sides must implement what we agreed on. There is complete EU unity on this."
And a source told Reuters that Mr Macron also used his own meeting with Mr Johnson to pressure the prime minister over the protocol, which effectively keeps Northern Ireland within the EU's single market and customs rules.
"The president told Boris Johnson there needed to be a reset of the Franco-British relationship," the source said.
"This can happen provided that he keeps his word with the Europeans."
But Number 10 rejected the suggestion that discussions on the deepening of Franco-British ties were linked to the issue of the protocol.
A Downing Street spokesperson said, in the meeting with Mr Macron, that Mr Johnson had "expressed confidence in the UK's position in the Northern Ireland Protocol".
"He made clear his desire for pragmatism and compromise on all sides but underlined that protecting the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions was paramount," the spokesperson added.
Mr Johnson was also said to have told Ms Von der Leyen and Mr Michel that the UK was "committed to finding practical solutions within the framework of the protocol" to "protect the aims" of the Good Friday Agreement and "minimise the impact on the day-to-day lives of people in Northern Ireland".
The prime minister and EU leaders were said to have agreed to continue talks to resolve "outstanding issues" linked to the protocol.
However, Downing Street again repeated that the UK would "keep all options on the table" with regards to post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.
The prime minister has said the current implementation of the protocol is having a "damaging impact" on the people of Northern Ireland.
And it has recently been suggested he could delay the imposition of post-Brexit checks on chilled meats entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain - such as sausages and mince - when a current "grace period" expires at the end of this month.
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Despite previous warnings of retaliatory action by the EU if Mr Johnson proceeded with such a move, EU leaders were said not to have repeated any threat of legal action or the imposition of trade tariffs in Saturday's meetings.
Mr Johnson's Brexit minister Lord Frost - who has angered EU capitals with his recent criticism of what he said was the bloc's "legal purism" over the protocol - joined the prime minister for his talks with EU leaders.
On Thursday, in their first face-to-face meeting, Mr Johnson and US President Joe Biden - who has often spoken of his Irish roots - appeared to skirt around the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The prime minister insisted the UK and US were in "complete harmony" over the issue, despite reports the UK had recently received a "demarche" - a formal diplomatic protest - from the US over the dispute.
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2021-06-12 10:41:15Z
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