3 yıl önce

EU adopts legal course against UK over Brexit deal delays

EU objects to Britain unilaterally extending a grace period beyond April 1 for trade checks on goods the UK sends to Northern Ireland, which under Brexit is subject to the bloc’s trade regulations.

AFP

Drivers stand with their lorries blocking the entrance trying to enter the port of Dover in Kent, southeast England, on December 23, 2020.

The European Union has said it is starting legal action against the United Kingdom, arguing it does not respect the conditions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement and is violating international law.

The move marks yet another worsening of relations between the two sides since a divorce transition period ended on January 1.

Disputes have ranged from fights over vaccines, to the full diplomatic recognition of the EU in Britain and now again the terms of the divorce agreement.

Britain announced last week that it is delaying the imposition of checks on some goods from the EU to give businesses more time to prepare for new post-Brexit rules.

The EU are bound to know this is a gross exaggeration of protecting their single market when they claim to respect NI's place within the UK customs union.

The British government knows what they signed up to in order to get brexit over the line for party political purposes.
— EU in Northern Ireland (@EUinNI) March 15, 2021

And on March 3 the UK decided to unilaterally extend a grace period until October on checks for goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but remained part of the EU’s single market for goods after Brexit to avoid a hard border that could revive sectarian violence.

That means that products arriving from Britain face EU import regulations.

Bloc is upset?

In September last year, the UK had already upset the 27-nation bloc when it considered legislation that would have given Boris Johnson’s government the power to override part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement relating to Northern Ireland.

So the EU sees the UK’s March 3 statement as proof that Britain has now twice sought to violate an international agreement.

The sensitivity of Northern Ireland’s status was underscored this year when the EU threatened to ban shipments of coronavirus vaccines to Northern Ireland as part of moves to shore up the bloc’s supply. That would have drawn a hard border on the island of Ireland — exactly the scenario the Brexit deal was crafted to avoid.

The grace periods cover areas such as supermarket supplies and parcel deliveries to Northern Ireland from Great Britain and mean checks are not yet fully applied.

The first of the grace periods had been due to expire at the end of this month but the UK has pledged to extend them until October in a move widely welcomed by businesses in Belfast.