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The EU is said to be under pressure from Joe Biden to soften its stance on the Northern Ireland Protocol, as tensions over the legislation continue to simmer. The United States is “desperate” to solve the disagreement before the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a Conservative Party insider told Express.co.uk. The source said the US is “pushing” the European Union to be less “rigid” in its position, saying it is trying to “encourage compromise from their end”.

The Biden administration is “applying pressure” on the EU, the source said, in order to find a solution by April 2023 – 25 years on from when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. 

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr told Express.co.uk that he thinks this assessment of the US position is “on the money”, explaining: “I know the US President wants a lap of honour on Ireland with the 25th anniversary.”

But he added: “We have told the USA and UK it won’t happen unless [the protocol] is sorted.”

Mr Paisley Jr also warned that the EU’s definition of “sorted” is a “spectrum apart” from the UK’s position.

The Conservative insider said intervention from the Biden administration is the only way they can see the EU “softening its stance”.

This, they claimed, is why Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar appeared to take a softer line on the issue earlier this week when he acknowledged that the Northern Ireland Protocol had “perhaps” been “too strict”.

Mr Varadkar admitted that “mistakes” were made on both sides in the handling of Brexit.

The Irish Taoiseach, who was part of the negotiation process to agree on the Northern Ireland Protocol, said he would be “flexible and reasonable” when attempting to solve issues.

The UK has been locked in talks with the EU over the protocol – which was agreed as part of the withdrawal agreement to avoid a hard border in Ireland post-Brexit – since October 2021.

It allows Northern Ireland to remain within the EU’s single market for goods but it has faced criticism because a border was effectively created between Great Britain and Northern Ireland down the Irish Sea.

The border has led to delays, supermarket shortages and increased costs for businesses in Northern Ireland.

The Conservative insider also hit out at the United States’ appointment of Congressman Joe Kennedy as US special envoy to Northern Ireland, describing it as being “short-sighted”.

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They claimed this could “scupper any hopes” of the right of the Conservative party softening their stance on the Protocol.

The move is seen as an attempt to put pressure on the UK to accept Brussels’ demands the province is in effect under its jurisdiction and broken away from Britain.

Joe Kennedy III is a former Congressman who is the grandson of Bobby Kennedy and great-grandson of the first Joe Kennedy who was ambassador to the UK.

Mr Kennedy has strong links with Sinn Fein and is part of the Irish American lobby which has pushed Democrat policy into a pro-EU position on the thorny issue of the Northern Ireland protocol.

The position has been vacant since Mick Mulvaney left the position at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency in January 2021.

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