Opens two more sanctioning files for violating sanitary and phytosanitary regulations of the Northern Ireland protocol
The European Commission has reactivated this Wednesday the infringement procedure that began in March of last year against the British Government for breaching the Brexit agreement by not applying the Northern Ireland protocol, which in practice means giving it two months to back down on the law that unilaterally breaks with the pact or will raise the case before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
«There is no doubt that there is no legal or political justification to unilaterally change an international agreement (…). It is illegal. It is also extremely damaging to mutual trust,” said the vice president of the Community Executive responsible for relations with the United Kingdom, Maros Sefcovic, at a press conference to explain the legal measures taken by the EU.
However, the community politician has appealed to negotiation to seek consensual solutions and avoided specifying whether Brussels contemplates other retaliatory measures such as the imposition of tariffs on British trade if non-compliance persists.
“Of course nothing can be excluded if this bill becomes law. But we are not there, two partners must go towards the negotiations and seek a common point that benefits the Northern Irish, “he settled on the matter.
Regarding the sanctioning file, Sefcovic recalled that Brussels put it aside months after starting its processing with the aim of seeking a negotiated solution to the differences, with the red line of not renegotiating the substance of the agreement, but the lack of progress and the new British law have led community services to reactivate the legal route.
For this reason, the community legal services have now sent a reasoned opinion to the British authorities, the second phase in an infringement procedure, with which they give the United Kingdom a period of two months to correct the situation and warn that, otherwise , Brussels will be able to raise the case before the European Justice, whose jurisdiction is also contested by London.
This case specifically denounces the non-compliance with the provisions on the movement of goods and the movement of applicable pets.
The European Union considers that failure to comply with the safeguards provided to prevent a return to a physical border in Ulster is a “violation of international law” insofar as the Withdrawal Agreement that sets the conditions for divorce is an international Treaty.
two more files
But the Commission has also decided to open two other files against the Government of Boris Johnson for failing to comply with its obligations with respect to the sanitary and phytosanitary rules of the European Union provided for in the protocol, one of the conditions accepted by the British so that Northern Ireland could continue to participate in the European Single Market.
The European Union considers that failure to comply with the safeguards provided to prevent a return to a physical border in Ulster is a “violation of international law” insofar as the Withdrawal Agreement that sets the conditions for divorce is an international Treaty.
In the eyes of the Twenty-seven, the United Kingdom intends with its latest law to set the conditions for access to the Single Market unilaterally« and this is »inconceivable and unacceptable«, warned Sefcovic, who has insisted that there is still room for consensual solutions, on condition that the United Kingdom also agrees to negotiate.
In this way, the community vice-president has clung to the last offer of agreement presented by the European negotiators last autumn to “make more flexible” the application of the rules of the protocol and save practical problems detected by Northern Irish companies and citizens once it was consummated the Brexit.
Sefcovic has insisted on recalling that it took “more than four years” to reach an agreement between the parties, which was later “signed and ratified” by both, and that the result of the negotiation was “the best solution that could be found” for respect the three red lines, alluding to the need to protect the Good Friday Peace Agreements, avoid returning to a physical border with security forces between the two irelands and guarantee the proper functioning of the Single Market.
“We are ready to demonstrate that the protocol offers sufficient legal space for a fluid application, without invasive controls,” assured the community politician, who also regretted that at the time of negotiations to make the protocol more flexible London has not provided any proposal ” serious” to seek agreement.
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