The European Union (EU) is expected to launch legal action against the UK government on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, over its decision to scrap some post-Brexit trade arrangements.
Ministers insist current checks on some goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland must end to avoid harm to the peace process. They published a parliamentary bill on Monday, June 13, 2022, aimed at overriding parts of the deal signed with the EU in 2020. But Brussels is of the view that going back on the arrangement breaks international law.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the Brexit deal which keeps Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods. This prevents a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, including checks on the movement of people and goods, which both the UK and EU want to avoid in order to ensure peace is maintained.
But instead, it means checks on some goods arriving in Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, which is being opposed by unionists in Northern Ireland who argue that it creates a trade border in the Irish Sea and could lead to the break-up of the UK. Following elections in Northern Ireland last month (May 2022), the Democratic Unionist Party is refusing to serve in a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein until the protocol is changed. But other parties in Northern Ireland, including Sinn Fein, the Alliance Party and the SDLP, accept the deal as it stands.
The Changes UK Expects
The UK government said it would prefer to agree on changes with the EU, rather than act alone in making changes to the protocol.
Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, told reporters that “We’ve been acting in good faith in these negotiations, but the fundamental issues that are affecting political stability in Northern Ireland are in the text of the protocol and what we need is the EU to agree to change the text of the protocol.”
“Otherwise, the negotiations won’t succeed. We’ve reached a dead end, because we can’t change those core issues around customs and around VAT that are losing us the consent of the unionist community in Northern Ireland.”
Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss
At the centre of the UK government’s plan are measures they said would ease the impact on businesses set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, including the concept of “green lanes” and “red lanes” for trade.
What Would it Involve?
This would involve goods coming from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) into Northern Ireland and the ones which are staying there using the green lane – meaning no checks and minimal paperwork, as well as goods moving from Great Britain through Northern into Ireland or the wider European Union, would by using the red lane, that is, continuing to be checked at ports in Northern Ireland.
Additionally, the UK wants the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) to have no future role in deciding disputes involving the protocol, with an independent arbiter overseeing sitting in judgement instead.
In response, the EU indicated that it will restart legal action it began in March last year (2021) when it accused the UK of delaying, without consultation, the enforcement of parts of the protocol relating to customs checks. It also added that it could go further by taking the UK to the ECJ over claims it did too little to set up border control posts and share data with the EU.
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