The Foreign Ministers of Germany and the Republic of Ireland, Annalena Baerbock and Simon Coveney have written a joint-article in a UK newspaper arguing there is no excuse for breaking an international treaty - as the UK's new legislation on the Northern Ireland [Brexit] Protocol is seen to do. 

The UK parliament is considering a new law which would unilaterally change customs arrangements between Britain and Northern Ireland that were initially agreed as part of its exit deal from the European Union.

The UK government, including Prime Minister Johnson and Foreign Minister Truss, said the changes are needed to ease the burdensome requirements of the divorce deal, designed to prevent goods flowing into EU member Ireland via British province Northern Ireland. 

Writing in the Observer newspaper Baerbock and Coveney rejected that argument.

"There is no legal or political justification for unilaterally breaking an international agreement entered into only two years ago," they wrote. 

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"The tabling of legislation will not fix the challenges around the protocol. Instead, it will create a new set of uncertainties and make it more challenging to find durable solutions."

While Johnson's government said it would like to renegotiate the deal, the EU has said London has not worked constructively with its members to make that work. 

"We urge the British government to step back from their unilateral approach and show the same pragmatism and readiness to compromise the EU has shown," the ministers of EU member states added. 

The legislation, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, passed its first parliamentary hurdle last week, but is expected to face stiffer tests before it becomes law with many parliamentarians opposed to breaking a treaty obligation.

It is next due to be debated in parliament on July 13.