LONDON — The British government proposed Monday a new law that would unilaterally revise post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland. This was despite opposition from U.K lawmakers and EU officials who claim the move is against international law.
The bill proposes to eliminate customs checks on certain goods entering Northern Ireland from the U.K. This will override some parts of the trade agreement that Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed. It was less than two years ago.
The British government claimed that its action was justified by international law due to the “genuinely extraordinary situation” and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss blamed E.U. The European Commission blocked a negotiated settlement. The European Commission stated that it could bring legal action against the U.K.
Existing trade rules provide Northern Ireland’s business operators with access to the E.U. single market for goods. “The U.K. government’s approach places this access and associated opportunities at risk,” stated Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission.
Prime Minister Micheal Mart of Ireland said that it was regrettable for a country such as the U.K., to renege upon an international treaty. Olaf Scholz, Germany’s Chancellor, agreed, saying that there was no reason for the U.K., to do so.
Scholz stated that it was a rejection of all agreements between the European Union (EU) and Great Britain. “The European Union will respond to this as one, and it has all the tools at its disposal.”
Johnson said that Johnson was open to criticism and that the change is “relatively easy to do.”
He told LBC Radio that it was a small number of adjustments in the grand scheme.
He claimed that his government’s “higher, prior legal commitment” to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought stability and peace to Northern Ireland is due to its 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The arrangements for Northern Ireland, the only region of the U.K. with a border on the E.U.’s land, are the most important. The most difficult issue in Britain’s decision to leave the bloc at the end 2020 was the question of Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Protocol is at the heart of the dispute. It regulates trade relations between Northern Ireland (part of the U.K.) and Republic of Ireland (part of the E.U.).
The E.U. and Britain have reached an agreement. Their Brexit deal stipulated that the Irish land border would not be subject to customs checks. An open border was a crucial pillar of the peace process which ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
To protect the single market of the E.U., certain goods such as meat or eggs are restricted from entering Northern Ireland from the U.K.
Johnson has found the arrangement to be politically harmful because it treats Northern Ireland differently than the rest of the United Kingdom. Until the protocol is substantially altered or scrapped, the Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party refused to return to power-sharing government.
The bill to repeal that arrangement will likely face opposition from Parliament, including members of Johnson’s Conservative ranks. Critics claim that unilaterally changing the protocol is illegal and would harm Britain’s standing in relation to other countries, as it’s part a treaty that’s binding under international law.
Sefcovic stated in Brussels that the protocol was the only way to preserve the hard-earned gains from the peace process.
