Brussels is set to take legal action against the United Kingdom on Monday, following the publication of a bill to break up much of the Brexit deal in 2020, EU officials say as the two countries approach a possible trade war.
Officials said the European Commission would respond immediately to Britain’s bill to rewrite the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol by resuming a legal process frozen last year to allow negotiations and possibly a second case.
The UK bill, which must be ahead of schedule, will put an end to the supervisory role of the European Court of Justice, as well as to EU control over state aid and value added tax in the region.
The legislation will also violate the Brexit treaty by exempting UK goods from having to go through border checks if they remain in Northern Ireland, and will give ministers broad powers to change almost every aspect of the text.
EU officials said the United Kingdom had failed to fulfill much of the deal agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Any case is likely to end up in the European Court of Justice, which may impose fines for non-compliance.
If the United Kingdom refuses to pay and comply with its decision, the EU could suspend parts of its post-Brexit trade agreement by imposing tariffs on British goods.
Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in an interview that the lawsuit was “proportional”, but warned against a trade war. “What is happening here is serious, but there is a big difference between the proposed legislation and the actual legislation that is passed and then actually applied.”
He denounced the UK’s move as “anti-democratic”, as a majority of voters in Northern Ireland support parties that support the protocol.
Fifty-two of the 90 elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly wrote to Johnson on Monday to “reject as recklessly as possible the reckless new protocol legislation of your government”, accusing him of “seeking to destabilize our region”.
The bill is also likely to anger the United States, while ministers privately acknowledge that the bill could be blocked for months by the House of Lords.
Johnson denies the law violates international law, arguing that it is necessary to defend the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which brought peace to Northern Ireland after three decades of conflict.
“Our higher and previous legal commitment to the country is to the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement and to the balance and stability of that agreement,” he told LBC Radio on Monday.
The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, has refused to reinstate a power-sharing agreement in the region after nationalist Sinn Fein became the largest party in the May election.
“A community right now feels very, very alienated from the way things work, very alienated, and we just have to fix that, it’s relatively easy to do that,” Johnson said. “This is a bureaucratic change that needs to be made, to be honest, it’s a relatively trivial set of adjustments to the big scheme.”
But SUP Wilson, a veteran DUP MP, said the House of Commons’ approval of the new legislation would not be enough for his party to return to the region’s government, citing any offer to urge it to do so before the bill passes. in the House of Lords as “stupid” extortion. He added that the PMU must see the legislation in its final form. . . before we can support it. “
Johnson also said the trade war between the UK and the EU would be a “gross, gross overreaction”. He added: “All we are trying to do is simplify things by trying to remove barriers to trade with Britain and Northern Ireland.
The current Brexit arrangements require new checks on goods traveling from the UK to the region, which remains part of the EU’s single market for goods.
However, under the new legislation, goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland will pass through the “green belt” without checks, while goods crossing the open border with the Republic of Ireland will be subject to “red tape” checks.
The bill will also create a dual regulatory regime allowing goods originating in the UK to circulate in the region, provided they meet UK standards, not EU standards.
In response to the law, EU Commissioner for Brexit Maros Shefcovic is expected to ask the commission on Monday afternoon to refer the case to the European Court of Justice.
The second case, on the new bill itself, will begin with a letter to London. Both will probably take more than a year to complete.
Video: Northern Ireland tries to cure the legacy of separation FT movie
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