Brexit: EU launches four new legal actions against UK…bringing total to seven – reactions

The European Union has launched fresh legal action against the UK for failing to comply with the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

Four new infringement procedures were triggered by the European Commission as relations further soured on Friday.

The EU argued it was forced to act because the UK has been unwilling to take part in “meaningful discussion” over the protocol since February.

It also struck out again at the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill that is making its way through Parliament, which the bloc says breaks international law.

The commission accused the UK of failing to comply with customs requirements, not imposing EU rules on VAT for e-commerce and failures over rules on alcohol excise duties.

In a statement, the European Commission said: “Despite repeated calls by the European Parliament, the 27 EU Member States and the European Commission to implement the Protocol, the UK Government has failed to do so.

BREAKING: The European Union has launched new legal action against the UK for failing to stick to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Read more: https://t.co/dWdxZ7eVpV

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/jXtOtik8tm

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 22, 2022

Infringement

“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 latest action comes on top of the infringement procedures launched on June 15.

Only on Thursday, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney had said the EU was waiting to see what the approach of the next prime minister would be before deciding its next move over the protocol.

“I think there is a sense in Brussels now that they want to wait for a new prime minister to be in office in No 10 Downing Street,” he said.

However, the Northern Ireland Bill – effectively ripping up key parts of the protocol – is being led by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is up against former chancellor Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson.

The outgoing Prime Minister signed the protocol as part of his Brexit deal to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

But he has since sought to override parts of it over concerns about a trade barrier on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland.

We have today launched four new infringement procedures against the United Kingdom for not complying with significant parts of the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland.

Read more: https://t.co/4CMwPZvLZV

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) July 22, 2022

Rocky ride

The dispute risks a trade war, with tariffs being imposed or even the suspension of the entire Brexit deal between the UK and European Union.

The Bill cleared the Commons on Wednesday but now faces a rocky ride through the House of Lords.

EU law professor Catherine Barnard, the deputy director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, said the commission was clearly “upping the ante”.

She noted it is focusing on “quite technical issues” and is yet to bring proceedings for a breach of the duty of good faith by bringing the Bill forward.

“This does feel like they are now looking out for every breach and will now go after them rather than taking a more pragmatic approach to go after the bigger breaches”, she said.

“It’s quite clear it’s an escalation.”

Reactions

1.

About time! This is good news for common decency and the rule of law. We should be ashamed of ourselves, an embarrassment on the global stage.

EU launces legal proceedings against the UK over Northern Ireland.#EUsuesUK #EU 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺https://t.co/FcqajDfLnJ

— Ricky Hallford 🏳️‍🌈 (@riskay_ricky) July 22, 2022

2.

A story repeated far and wide. Another Brexit success! https://t.co/xipm14dt3h

— jonathan edwards (@jonnybed) July 21, 2022

3.

Well that didn’t take long.

The Northern Ireland protocol bill hasn’t been voted into law yet and already we’re being sued for breaking the law.

Party of Law and Order eh?

Publicly-sponsored criminals more like.https://t.co/nDCBvU4Mu5

— The Purple Pimpernel (@Eyeswideopen69) July 22, 2022

4.

For taking back control read creating chaos @BorisJohnson and the Tory Govt own this shambles. With the Northern Ireland protocol bill going through Westminster, relationships with the EU have fallen of a Brexit cliff edge. https://t.co/KnSHozkuPU

— Ian Blackford 🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@Ianblackford_MP) July 22, 2022

5.

On R4 this morning Truss lists the Northern Ireland Protocol as one of her achievements. No words.

— Citizen Paul Templeman (Betamax Male) 🇪🇺 #FBPE (@PaulTempleman6) July 21, 2022

6.

https://twitter.com/alicuff/status/1550447742702559233

7.

It's official, the EU has lost patience with the Brexiters nonsense.

The UK as a whole will pay the price for #Brexit bad faith, and unfortunately with the Government Trussed up by the ERG the price will get higher.https://t.co/4jzOs81Idp#BrexitShambles #BrexitIsntWorking

— Cambridge for Europe 🇬🇧 🇪🇺🇺🇦 (@cambsforeurope) July 22, 2022

8.

#BrexshitBonus #BrexitBonus #Brexit #NIprotocol #NIP

EU launches further legal proceedings against the UK over its FAILURE to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol: pic.twitter.com/58niWFlWSF

— @marcusfitzsimons.bsky.social Woke Green Socialist (@MarcusFitzsimon) July 22, 2022

9.

Action, meet reaction.

In response to Truss tabling the bill to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol in the #Brexit divorce treaty, 🇪🇺 has just launched 4 new infringement proceedings against 🇬🇧 for breaches of the Protocol.

The UK has two months to react, or face fines.

— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) July 22, 2022

And there was this yesterday…

https://twitter.com/a_wood20/status/1550408457714548737

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