EU vows a firm response as Brexit tensions rise anew

Top European Union officials are vowing to use all measures available to ensure that the United Kingdom respects the terms of its Brexit agreement as tensions rise again over trade involving Northern Ireland

BRUSSELS -- Top European Union officials vowed Thursday to use all measures available to ensure that the United Kingdom respects the terms of its Brexit agreement with the bloc as tensions rise over trade involving Northern Ireland. “It is paramount to implement what we have decided. This is a question of rule of law,” European Council President Charles Michel said. “We will use all the tools we have in order to make sure that we defend our interests and to protect the integrity of the single market.” In an effort to defuse the row, Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to hold talks with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of Seven major powers in England. The row centers on provisions of the Brexit deal that essentially created a regulatory border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. That angered many pro-British residents of the territory who reject anything that threatens their status as part of the U.K.