Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will meet for dinner as they will try to reach a breakthrough in a post-Brexit trade deal on December 9, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.
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LONDON – The European Union is threatening new legal action against the UK over disagreements over their post-Brexit trade arrangements.
As part of its departure from the EU, the UK agreed to carry out checks on goods in transit across the Irish Sea going from Scotland, Wales and England to Northern Ireland. The latter has remained part of the EU’s internal market for goods to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland in what is known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The UK had until the end of this month to submit these checks, but has decided to extend the implementation period to October. A move that the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said is in breach of their agreement and therefore international law.
Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission, “voiced grave concern of the EU over the unilateral action of the UK as it amounts to a violation of the relevant substantive provisions of the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland”, said the committee in a statement on Wednesday for a telephone conversation between representatives of the EU and the UK.
“The European Commission will respond to these developments in accordance with the legal means that have been established,” the statement said.
The UK government has said it informed the committee “earlier this week” before the announcement was made public and that extending the implementation grace period is a “temporary” technical step “to give companies such as supermarkets and parcel operators more time to to adapt to implement and implement the new requirements. “
Supermarkets and other food retailers require health certificates when shipping animal products.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s chief of foreign affairs, said in a statement that the UK’s decision was “deeply unhelpful in building the trust and partnership relationship that is central to the implementation of the protocol.”
“The Irish government’s focus remains on ensuring that the protocol, as an international agreement between the EU and the UK, is fully implemented. It is the agreed solution to the problems created by Brexit on the island of Ireland,” added he adds.
Coveney said he expressed regret about the move during a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and Lord Forst, the Cabinet Office minister responsible for EU-UK relations.
This is not the first time that Brussels and London have disagreed on their post-Brexit arrangements.
In October last year, the EU started legal proceedings against the UK after the government introduced a bill that would have overturned the same deal with Northern Ireland.
Finally, after several weeks of meetings and discussions, the UK decided to drop the controversial clauses in the bill, paving the way for a trade deal to be signed on December 24.