The EU is starting legal proceedings against the United Kingdom, because the country wants to unilaterally adjust Brexit agreements. It concerns agreements about the position of Northern Ireland. The European Commission announced this on Wednesday. The legal action could take the British government to European courts and lead to hefty fines.
The government in London wants to get rid of the so-called Protocol for Northern Ireland, which was to ensure that after Brexit there would be no hard border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and EU member state Ireland.
It could jeopardize the expensive peace between pro-Irish Catholics and pro-British Protestants on the island. But the protocol complicates trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom and ensures that Northern Irish people must continue to comply with Brussels rules, London laments.
That is why the British government introduced a new law last week. Among other things, this states that companies that make products for Northern Ireland can decide for themselves whether they comply with British or EU rules. The government in London also wants to be able to offer businesses in Northern Ireland the same tax cuts as in the rest of the UK.
That is against the sore leg of Brussels. The EU is therefore resuming a so-called infringement procedure against the British that it had shut down last year and is taking the next step. The European Commission wanted to make an amicable solution possible with the break last year, but London itself has crossed that line, according to Brussels.
If the British government does not meet the EU within two months, it can go to the European Court of Justice.
The EU is also launching two new procedures. One concerns the fact that, according to Brussels, the UK does not carry out necessary checks on certain goods. The other concerns London’s refusal to provide figures on trade with Northern Ireland.