The European Union has launched fresh legal action against Britain for failing to implement the Northern Ireland protocol and putting the European single market and the safety of EU citizens at risk. The move follows the passage this week of a bill through the House of Commons that would allow British ministers to unilaterally scrap most of the protocol.
The European Commission said it was launching four new infringement procedures because Britain was ignoring the obligations it undertook when it agreed the protocol. And it explicitly linked the legal action to the progress of the Northern Ireland protocol bill through parliament.
“In a spirit of constructive cooperation, the Commission refrained from launching certain infringement procedures for over a year to create the space to look for joint solutions with the UK. However, the UK’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful discussion since last February and the continued passage of the Northern Ireland protocol bill through the UK parliament go directly against this spirit,” the Commission said in a statement.
A British government spokesman said there would be a formal response to the EU’s arguments “in due course” but dismissed the legal action from Brussels as unnecessary.
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“It is disappointing to see that the EU has chosen to bring forward further legal action, particularly on goods leaving Northern Ireland for Great Britain which self-evidently present no risk to the EU single market,” the spokesman said.
“A legal dispute is in nobody’s interest and will not fix the problems facing the people and businesses of Northern Ireland. The EU is left no worse off as a result of the proposals we have made in the Northern Ireland protocol bill.”
The Commission complains that Britain has significantly increased the risk of smuggling by failing to impose agreed controls on goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. Britain made a unilateral declaration in December 2020 promising “unfettered access” for goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
The EU subsequently agreed to accept “equivalent” information on goods movements on a real-time basis but the Commission said on Friday that Britain was not collecting the relevant data or providing the necessary information. Britain has also failed to apply new EU rules on excise duties to Northern Ireland and to implement EU rules on VAT for e-commerce.
“The aim of these infringement procedures is to secure compliance with the protocol in a number of key areas. This compliance is essential for Northern Ireland to continue to benefit from its privileged access to the European single market, and is necessary to protect the health, security and safety of EU citizens as well as the integrity of the single market,” the Commission said.
The four new infringement procedures are in addition to legal action the Commission launched against Britain last month in relation to non-implementation of the protocol. If Britain fails to take action within two months, the Commission can take the complaints to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which could impose fines on the British government.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, support the Northern Ireland protocol bill, which must still be debated and possibly amended in the House of Lords, a process that will take a number of months.
The EU’s legal action came as British officials blamed France for long delays at the Port of Dover, where a “critical incident” was declared on Friday. Brexit has required enhanced checks by French officials for passengers leaving Britain through Dover but there were not enough French border officials to man the booths on Friday.
“It is not a border force problem as such, it is the French authorities. All we can do is continue to work with them,” Britain’s Europe minister Graham Stuart told Sky News.
