Britain accuses EU of undermining Belfast Agreement

The British government has accused the EU of trying to make things worse in Northern Ireland with its latest proposals for easing the bureaucratic burden of the protocol.

Boris Johnson’s government said it was disappointed by the EU’s decision to launch legal proceedings following the introduction of legislation at Westminster to unilaterally scrap the protocol.

“It is disappointing that the EU has chosen to relaunch legal proceedings relating to the grace periods currently in place, which are vital to stop the problems caused by the protocol from getting worse. The UK’s preference remains for a negotiated solution, but the proposals set out by the EU today are the same proposals we have been discussing for months and would not solve the problems – in many cases they take us backwards from current arrangements,” a spokesperson said.

“The protocol is undermining the Belfast Agreement – disrupting trade and leading to people in Northern Ireland being treated differently to the rest of the UK. The EU continues to insist it is unwilling to change the protocol itself, so we are obliged to act ourselves to change the parts of the protocol that are causing problems.”

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The European Commission on Wednesday launched two new infringement procedures against Britain for failing to provide adequate border control posts in Northern Ireland for food and animal safety checks and for not sharing trade data with the EU. The commission also resumed legal action it had paused over Britain’s failure to enforce the protocol’s rules on the movement of parcels and pets between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

[ ‘This is illegal’: EU starts new legal proceedings against UK over protocol plans ]

[ Explainer: How does the UK want to change the Northern Ireland protocol? ]

The legal actions are not directly related to the bill introduced this week which would give British ministers the power to unilaterally override the protocol almost in its entirety. But at a press conference in Brussels, EC vice-president Maroš Šefčovič said the legislation broke international law.

“Let it be no doubt: There is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement,” he said. “Opening the door to unilaterally changing an international agreement is a breach of international law as well. So let’s call a spade a spade. This is illegal.”

The commission published two documents showing how its proposals from last October would dramatically cut the amount of bureaucracy required to move goods across the Irish Sea. An expanded trusted trader scheme would include more products and businesses, and customs procedures would be simplified with a singly monthly form setting out transactions.

Mr Šefčovič said only three pages of paperwork would be needed for an entire truckload of mixed goods from the supermarket chain Sainsburys. But the British government rejected the commission’s proposals, saying they would result in greater burdens than is the case now.

Mr Šefčovič said the EU was always ready to resume negotiations on the protocol but he said Britain had refused to engage since February, and was now trying to dictate how the European single market should be regulated. “It’s simply and legally and politically inconceivable that the UK government decides unilaterally what kind of goods can enter our single market,” he said.