The European Union launched new legal proceedings against the United Kingdom over its failure to implement parts of the post-Brexit deal it agreed with the bloc over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Earlier this week, the British government published plans to change the Northern Ireland Protocol. This is part of the deal that was designed to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open for trade and for travel, and ultimately to avoid a return to sectarian violence.
The European Commission said it launched the infringement proceeding because the UK is failing to implement the agreement, despite that the EU has repeatedly called for it too.
The British government has said that the Northern Ireland Protocol needs to be “fixed”, pointing to custom processes, tax, regulations, and governance issues.
But the Eu says these renegotiations are unrealistic, and that changing it would be a breach of an international agreement.
European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said there is no legal nor political justification to unilaterally change an international agreement.
“So let’s call a spade a spade: this is illegal,” Šefčovič said.
The agreement was originally put into place in order to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, which helped end years of deadly violence. It mandates there should be no hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is part of the EU. Northern Ireland is a part of the UK and therefore left the EU with the UK during Brexit.
To avoid a hard border between the two parts of Ireland, the UK has agreed to keep Northern Ireland within the EU regulatory scheme. But because the rest of the UK does not fall under EU rules, goods leaving Northern Ireland for the rest of the UK would have to be checked after they leave Ireland.
Despite agreeing to this solution, the British government now says this solution is unfair and is trying to go back on it. The UK has two months to respond, otherwise, the EU said it would take the UK to the European Court of Justice.
Be the first to comment