The E.U. has sent a letter to the U.K. notifying London of the alleged breach of the Brexit deal
The European Union (E.U.) today, i.e., Monday, March 15, 2021, launched legal proceedings against the United Kingdom (U.K.) for unilaterally changing the trading agreements for Northern Ireland, which the former says is a breach of Brexit deal.
The U.K. had announced to extend the Brexit grace period on food imports to Northern Ireland to October 1, 2021 from April 1, 2021. The Brexit grace period was a goodwill gesture from January 1, 2021 till March 31, 2021, to allow the affected food industries to adapt to the new trade barriers across the Irish Sea.
A part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, called the Northern Ireland Protocol, aims to eliminate the need for border controls between Northern Ireland (part of the U.K.) and the Republic of Ireland (an E.U. member). As per the Brexit deal, there will be some custom checks on goods arriving from U.K. to Northern Ireland, including food products.
The E.U. has sent a letter to the U.K. notifying London of the alleged breach of the Brexit deal. The formal notice marks the beginning of a formal infringement process, as set out in the protocol.
Taking it to twitter, the official twitter handle of European Commission tweeted,
We have just launched legal proceedings against the United Kingdom for breaching the Withdrawal Agreement and IE/NI Protocol.
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) March 15, 2021
Unilateral action undermines trust.
The EU is committed to making the Protocol work for all.
More info here: https://t.co/c38rUrR13K pic.twitter.com/pQ4TkCQmc1
Separately, the Vice President of European Commission – Maroš Šefčovič has also sent a political letter to David Frost, the Europe’s Advisor to Boris Johnson, to rectify and refrain from putting its proposed extension of the protocol into practice.
Maroš Šefčovič tweeted,
We agreed IE/NI Protocol together, as the only way to protect Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement. Bound to implement it together. Unilateral action undermines trust.
— Maroš Šefčovič🇪🇺 (@MarosSefcovic) March 15, 2021
🇪🇺 committed to making Protocol work for all. I invite 🇬🇧 to return to collaborative track https://t.co/PsL7e8ZUvF
Sefcovic said in his letter that the unilateral move is a violation of the duty in good faith and called on London to enter bilateral consultations in the joint committee in good faith, in order to reach a mutually agreed solution as quickly as possible. Stressing that those talks should begin by the end of March, the letter also issued a harsh rebuke of the UK’s actions.
The letter read, “What we need in order to implement the protocol is mutual trust and this kind of unilateral action that we see from the UK, does not build trust.”
However, U.K. has denied breaching any part of the Brexit deal. Boris Johnson said the extension was simply a technical decision aimed at being fair. The protocol, he said, should guarantee trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as across Northern Ireland’s land border with Ireland.
