TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Tuesday, Jun 06, 2023

EU takes new legal action against UK over post-Brexit deal changes

EU takes new legal action against UK over post-Brexit deal changes

The EU has announced new legal action against the UK government over its plans to scrap parts of the post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

Ministers outlined a bill on Monday aimed at unilaterally changing trade, tax and governance arrangements in the 2019 deal.

The treaty was agreed by both sides but the UK says it has disrupted trade and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

But the EU says overriding parts of the deal would break international law.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said there was "no legal or political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement".

"So let's call a spade a spade, this is illegal," Mr Sefcovic said, adding that the UK's decision "left us with no choice" but to take legal action.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson said his government was disappointed the EU had taken legal action and continued to favour a negotiated resolution.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a special arrangement that keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods, avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

The arrangement ensured free trade could continue across the Irish land border, which is a sensitive issue because of the history of conflict in Northern Ireland.

But the protocol brought in some new checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and has been criticised by unionist politicians.

However, the majority of politicians elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in last month's elections support the arrangements.

The European Commission said it would restart legal action - paused in March 2021 - over the UK's decision to delay checks on certain goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The Commission also launched two new proceedings over claims the UK has failed in its obligations to share trade data and set up border inspection posts.

These legal steps could eventually lead to the UK being fined under a dispute process overseen by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

But the dispute process can take months to complete and the Commission has insisted its "door remains open" for talks with the UK to find a resolution.


The launch of legal action by the EU may sound dramatic but this is a process stretching over many months.

UK legislation, to scrap parts of the protocol, will likewise take some time with the bill set to face resistance in Parliament.

Regardless, the stakes have been raised this week in a dispute that has been bogged down for months.

But worth noting is the emphasis from the European Commission's Maros Sefcovic that his door is open; he's saying the EU wants to talk.

However the fact remains that the two sides can't even agree on quite what they should talk about.

Demands by Britain for changes on tax and governance are a non-starter for the EU. There's more common ground on customs and the hope in Brussels is that they can show progress is possible within the terms of the existing treaty.

But the mood isn't optimistic with diplomats frequently suggesting they think the issue is mired in Tory party politics.

And if nothing changes the slow-burn passage of legal action and legislation could eventually explode into an even bigger confrontation. But as officials are keen to stress, we're not there yet.

The UK government says it would prefer to agree changes with the EU, rather than act alone to scrap parts of the protocol.

The government justified its move under a legal principle called the "doctrine of necessity", insisting the protocol was causing "peril" to society and politics in Northern Ireland.

The UK government's chief legal adviser, Suella Braverman, told the BBC the protocol was "adversely and seriously affecting" Northern Ireland.

She said her preferred alternative was negotiation but accused the EU of failing to do that "meaningfully for over two years now and that's why we've regrettably been left with no option but to take these measures".

Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration cannot be formed without the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has refused to take part until reforms are made to the protocol.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has urged the DUP to "get on with it", but the party's leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has said that would depend on whether the bill to change the protocol passed into law.

Earlier Philippe Lamberts, a Belgium member of the European Parliament, told the BBC the protocol changes proposed by the UK were "about political posturing".

He said patience in Brussels "has been tested to the extreme by Boris Johnson".


Infringements


In March 2021, the EU launched legal action against the UK for delaying the full implementation of checks on some goods, including argi-food products.

The infringement proceedings were paused last year but have now been resumed by the EU.

If the UK government does not reply within two months, the EU could take the matter to the ECJ, which has powers to impose penalties.

The EU has also launched two new actions for further alleged breaches of the protocol.


These relate to alleged UK failures to carry out its obligations under the EU's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules and "provide the EU with certain trade statistics data".

The actions do not directly relate to the UK's draft legislation, with the EU reserving the right to take further action if that law ever comes into effect.

"If this draft bill becomes law, of course I cannot exclude anything," Mr Sefcovic said.


Possible solutions


The EU also gave more detail on its own proposals to ease checks which they say can resolve issues of concern in Northern Ireland.

These include an expanded trusted trader arrangement covering more products and companies and a cut to customs administration.

Mr Sefcovic said the proposals were "all about simplification" and at the news conference, attempted to demonstrate this by holding up three documents.

"These are the three pages that need to be filled. Not 300, not 30, three," he said.

Echoing the UK prime minister's Brexit rhetoric, Mr Sefcovic said the proposals were "oven-ready", while adding this was not an "unconditional offer".

Maros Sefcovic said the EU's proposals would simplify administration


But the UK has previously rejected the EU's proposals saying they would make things worse, and if differences are not resolved, there are fears that the row over the protocol could trigger a trade war, which involves putting up barriers to the exchange of goods.

A trade war could increase costs for consumers, possibly compounding pressure on household budgets driven by inflation at 40-year highs.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
Close
0:00
0:00
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines calls the British monarchy "an absurdity" he wants to remove in his lifetime
King Charles III being crowned.
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
US Congresswoman threaten Twitter Files journalist with arrest
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Enough is enough: it's time to end the war in Ukraine. While Russia may be to blame for starting it, Russia is not the one refusing to stop it
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
AG decries scapegoating and rushed lawmaking by government
The land of the free violence
21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira has been arrested for leaking classified Pentagon Documents
×