The leaders of Germany and the UK held a telephone conversation on Wednesday evening, a day after the new British prime minister took up her position.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his UK counterpart Liz Truss discussed the energy crisis as well as the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine, according to a statement from the UK government.

"The Prime Minister underlined the importance of ensuring democracy and freedom were upheld in Europe, and of protecting countries made vulnerable by Russia's economic blackmail," the statement said, referring to the call.

A German government spokesperson confirmed the call and said that "The Chancellor has invited his British counterpart to Berlin for an inaugural visit soon."

Truss became prime minister following a vote by Conservative Party members in which she bested her rival Rishi Sunak. She was formally granted permission to form a government by Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday. 

The two leaders also discussed the Northern Ireland Protocol, an issue that proved to be a thorn in the side of Truss's predecessor Boris Johnson — as well as his predecessor before him, Theresa May — and has caused heightened tensions between the EU and the post-Brexit UK.

How will Liz Truss deal with the Northern Ireland Protocol?

Truss reportedly "stressed the importance of finding a solution to the fundamental problems with the text of the Protocol as it stands," according to the UK government's statement.

The UK government has previously signaled that it plans to unilaterally tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol — in legislation introduced by Truss herself in her former role as foreign minister — which requires goods moving between the enclave and the rest of the UK to be checked in order to keep a soft border on the island of Ireland.

"My preference is for a negotiated solution, but it does have to deliver all of the things we set out in the Northern Ireland protocol bill, and what we cannot allow is for this situation to drift," Truss told the UK Parliament on Wednesday.

Germany has condemned such a move, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock writing in an opinion piece in July that "There is no legal or political justification for unilaterally breaking an international agreement entered into only two years ago."

The White House warned Downing Street against any unilateral scrapping of the protocol, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying it "would not create a conducive environment," Reuters reported.

The EU restarted legal procedures against London over infringements of the protocol following the announced plan to do away with it. The bloc had previously paused the procedure as an act of goodwill.

ab/rc (Reuters, dpa)