EU announces legal action against UK over changes to Brexit Protocol
Posted By: June 15, 2022
IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus.
EU announces legal action against UK over changes to Brexit Protocol. The European Commission is also resuming legal proceedings against the UK which were shelved last year to facilitate negotiations on post-Brexit trade
Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
The EU has announced fresh legal action against the UK as part of a series of measures in response to the Government’s move to unilaterally scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The European Commission is also resuming legal proceedings against the UK which were shelved last year to facilitate negotiations on post-Brexit trade.
The EU has described the legal steps as a “proportionate” response to the Government’s tabling of domestic legislation which would give ministers the power to axe large parts of the deal governing the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The bloc has insisted its “door remains open” for talks with the UK to find an agreed resolution to the furore over the so-called Irish Sea border.
The stalled legal action related to the UK’s unilateral extension of protocol grace periods in 2021.
Resuming the proceedings, the EU is issuing the UK with a “reasoned opinion” and giving it two months to respond. If the UK does not respond to the bloc’s satisfaction, it will refer the matter to European Court of Justice.
The two new infringement proceedings announced on Wednesday relate to alleged UK failures around Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks on agri-food produce entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The EU is issuing formal notices of action in respect of the two new infringement proceedings, alleging that the SPS checks are not being carried out properly, with insufficient staff and infrastructure in place at the border control posts at the ports in Northern Ireland.
The proceedings outlined today do not specifically relate to the content of the Government’s controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.
The EU said any potential proceedings over the Bill would only happen when it was enacted at Westminster.
The Commission has also outlined more details on proposals it first announced in October last year designed to reduce bureaucracy on customs and SPS processes.
Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said the Bill is “extremely damaging to mutual trust and respect between the EU and the UK”.
“It has created deep uncertainty and casts a shadow over our overall co-operation, all at a time when respect for international agreements has never been more important,” he said.
“That is why the Commission has today decided to take legal action against the UK for not complying with significant parts of the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.”
The controversy over the protocol could feature when Boris Johnson faces Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons at noon.
European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said that the EU’s door remains open to dialogue but said it was “inconceivable” for the UK to unilaterally make decisions.
He told a press conference in Brussels: “Despite today’s legal action, our door remains open to dialogue. We want to discuss these solutions with the UK Government.
“Given that the UK hasn’t sat down at the table with us since February, I think it’s high time to show some political will to find joint solutions.
“The UK has stated that for us to talk, the EU must be willing to change the protocol.
“On the contrary, we have always said that our package of proposals has never been a take-it-or-leave-it offer – it can evolve.”
He emphasized the need for safeguards to protect the single market and said these conditions were not for the UK to change.
“It’s simply and legally and politically inconceivable that the UK Government decides unilaterally what kind of goods can enter our single market.”
European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said Boris Johnson’s Government knew what it was signing up to when it agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol.
But he suggested the Government had not been open with the public about what it involved.
He told reporters in Brussels: “I’m sure the UK Government knew perfectly well what they signed up to when they agreed to the protocol – although I have to admit they didn’t do a very good job explaining it to the public.
“Most importantly, it is legally inconceivable that the UK Government decides what kinds of goods can enter the EU single market.”
The dispute could ultimately lead to a trade war, with tariffs or even the suspension of the entire Brexit deal between the UK and European Union, Maros Sefcovic acknowledged.
Asked about potential further action against the UK, he told reporters in Brussels: “If this draft Bill becomes the law then I cannot exclude anything.
“But we are not there yet and we want to solve this issue as the two partners should, through negotiations, looking for the common ground and delivering for the people of Northern Ireland.”
The European Commission vice-president warned the UK against simply ignoring any European Court of Justice rulings on breaches of the Northern Ireland Protocol
“Not respecting the European Court of Justice rulings would be just piling one breach of international law upon another,” he said.
He questioned whether that would be “compatible with the proud British traditions of upholding and respecting the rule of law.”
Asked how the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) can be convinced to return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, the European Commission vice president said the EU had “no intention to interfere in this process” and stressed the bloc was not aiming for a “political victory”.
Maros Sefcovic told a press conference in Brussels: “We respect first and foremost the the Good Friday/Belfast agreement in all its dimensions”.
He added: “We do not seek a political victory, what we want is to find a workable, long-term solution … giving the legal certainty to the operators in Northern Ireland how the protocol would be implemented…
“What we need is the political will from London to engage with us, to work on smoothing operations and implementation of the protocol and to do it in a way that brings lasting benefits for the people of Northern Ireland”.
