Officials said the European Commission would respond immediately to a British bill to rewrite the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, reopening a legal process that froze last year to allow negotiations and possibly launch a second case. The UK bill, which is currently due to expire, will end the European Court of Justice’s oversight role as well as EU control over state aid and value-added tax in the region. The legislation would also violate the Brexit treaty by exempting goods from the UK from having to go through border controls if they remain in Northern Ireland and giving ministers sweeping powers to change almost every aspect of the text. EU officials say the United Kingdom has already failed to implement large parts of the agreement reached by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Any case would most likely end up in the ECJ, which could impose fines for non-compliance. If the UK refuses to pay and complies with its decision, the EU could end parts of its post-Brexit trade deal by imposing tariffs on British products. Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said in an interview that the legal action was “proportionate” but warned against a trade war. “What is happening here is serious, but there is a big difference between the proposed legislation and the actual legislation that is enacted and then actually used.” He denounced the UK move as “undemocratic” because a majority of voters in Northern Ireland support parties in favor of the protocol. Fifty-two of the 90 elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly wrote to Johnson on Monday to “vehemently reject” your government’s reckless new protocol legislation, accusing it of seeking to “destabilize our region”. The bill is also likely to anger the US, with ministers privately admitting the bill could be blocked for months by the House of Lords. Johnson denies the law violates international law, arguing that it is necessary to protect the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland after three decades of conflict. “Our highest and foremost legal commitment to the country is the Belfast / Good Friday agreement and the balance and stability of that agreement,” he told LBC Radio on Monday. The Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland’s largest unification party, has refused to restore the power-sharing deal in the region after nationalist Sinn Féin became the largest party in the May election. “A community right now feels very alienated from the way things work, very alienated and we just have to fix it, it’s relatively simple to do,” Johnson said. “It’s a bureaucratic change that needs to be made, it’s honestly a relatively insignificant set of adjustments to the big plan.” However, Sammy Wilson, a veteran DUP MP, said the passage of the new legislation by the House of Commons would not be enough to get his party back in the local government, describing any attempt to force it to do so before proceeding. the bill in the House of Lords as “stupid” blackmail. He added that the DUP needed to see the legislation “in its final form. . . before we can give him our support. “ Johnson also said a trade war between the UK and the EU would be a “tough, blatant overreaction”. He added: “All we are trying to do is simplify things, trying to remove barriers to trade with Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” Under the current Brexit arrangements, new controls are required for goods traveling from the UK to the region, which remains part of the EU’s single goods market. However, under the new legislation, goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland will pass through a ‘green lane’ without controls, while goods destined across the open border to the Republic of Ireland will be subject to ‘red light’ controls. strip ». The bill would also create a dual regulatory regime, allowing products originating in the UK to circulate in the region provided they meet UK rather than EU standards. In response to the law, Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Brexit, is expected to ask the Commission on Monday afternoon to refer the case, which has been suspended – over a unilateral UK decision to delay inspections of goods and services. pets – in the ECJ. A second case, for the new bill itself, would begin with a letter to London. Both will probably take more than a year to complete. Video: Northern Ireland tries to heal a legacy of separation | FT film
