Away from the pomp of French president Emmanuel Macron’s state visit and summit in London, separate, much quieter talks were due to take place in Westminster on Thursday that could be almost as crucial for UK relations in the European Union.
Yvette Cooper, the British government’s home secretary, was due to break away from the Anglo-French summit to meet Michael McGrath, the European Commission’s justice commissioner and the Republic’s former minister for finance.
“I’m the first justice commissioner to visit Britain since Brexit came into effect in 2020,” he told The Irish Times at his Westminster hotel on Thursday morning.
While McGrath may be softly spoken, he carries a big stick.
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In December the EU filed legal action against the UK in the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to protect the rights of some of the six million EU citizens in Britain. Some EU citizens complained they had been denied entry by UK border officials after returning from visits to their home countries on holidays or to see family.
The issue caused friction behind the scenes of British prime minister Keir Starmer’s much-vaunted “reset” of relations with the EU. A resolution may be near, however. McGrath flew in for talks on the issue, before heading to Manchester for an event for EU citizens.
“Commitments were provided for as part of [Britain’s] withdrawal agreement. [However] there have been challenges,” said McGrath.
“But we do now appear to be making progress. I will be raising this issue of EU citizen rights in the UK as a political priority for us. Those who left the UK for a while – we have to get their status regularised. But we also have to make sure EU states reciprocate.”
As well as Cooper, McGrath was due to speak to Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary. He was also due to meet Peter Kyle, the UK’s science secretary, to discuss new British laws passed in June that shook up restrictions on the transfer of digital data.
“We have to assess this new Act to enable data flows to continue between the EU and UK,” said McGrath, who added it was crucial for co-operation on criminal matters as well as for business.
Later in the day, he would head northwest for the fourth annual EU Citizen’s Gathering, the first time the event has been held outside London.
McGrath said it would be a “coming together” of Europeans living in the area, politicians and community groups. Andy Burnham, the pro-Europe mayor of Manchester who is seen by many as a future Labour Party leader and possible prime minister, was also due to contribute.
As well as justice, McGrath’s sprawling commission brief includes overseeing the rule of law in the EU and consumer protection. He also spearheads a commission project to establish a “democracy shield” to prevent states such as Russia from interfering in elections in Europe by flooding them with disinformation.
McGrath said the initiative will involve schemes to support independent media and boost media literacy among European citizens. But will it also involve censorship? The EU, after all, has already banned some foreign media outlets such as Russia Today.
“If we get this right it will be the opposite of censorship. It will be about protecting the freedom of expression of EU voters at the ballot box, and keeping them protected from undue influence and interference.”
He said freedom of expression is “sacrosanct”, but suggested the EU should regulate the algorithms of social media platforms to prevent them from boosting disinformation from states such as Russia.
“The issue is with the algorithms,” he said. If it is not addressed, he added, the “blatant lies” of Russia will be allowed to spread farther.
McGrath’s brief also includes ensuring EU member states accept the “primacy of EU law”. Viktor Orban’s Hungary, he said, isn’t doing that, and so up to €18 billion in EU funding has been withheld from the central European country.
“We hear them [Hungary] openly criticise European Court of Justice judgments. It is a fundamental obligation of EU membership that you respect the primacy of EU law and the ECJ. They [Hungary] seem to have a difficulty with that.”
On consumer protection, McGrath’s attention has turned to the stratospheric growth in Europe of Chinese online retail platforms such as Shein and Temu, which ship millions of small-value packages into the bloc each year.
McGrath said he is concerned over the safety of many products sold on such platforms. He suggested the EU could adjust customs duty thresholds to make the small purchases more expensive for EU consumers.
He said 12 million small retail packages per day are imported into the European Union, more than 90 per cent of which come from China. Europe’s “system”, he suggested, was struggling to cope with the volume and he alleged that European retailers were being put at a competitive disadvantage.
McGrath said the EU would soon publish the results of an online “safety sweep” of products sold on sites such as Shein and Temu. The commission used software to “scrape” the sites for data to analyse.
“My view is the commission needs to be given stronger investigative and enforcement powers in relation to consumer protection and product safety.”
He will, we can assume, probably advocate, in his own calm, inimitable way, for more powers behind the scenes.
