EU threatens legal action as UK seeks to reverse Northern Ireland treaty

The European Union has threatened legal action against Britain after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government published plans to override a treaty governing the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland.

Unionists demonstrate against the Northern Ireland Protocol on a road leading to a port in Antrim, where a customs check has been set up between the province and the UK. AFP - PAUL FAITH

Legislation presented in Westminster on Monday seeks to unilaterally amend the Northern Ireland Protocol, which ensures trade rules surrounding the movement of goods through the province comply with EU norms.

In a statement late Monday, European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, also the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, hit out at the “damaging” move and warned that British ministers risked being taken to court.

He said the EU was considering “infringement proceedings” over various failures by the UK. Other potential retaliatory measures included compiling a list of British goods that Brussels could hit with trade tariffs.

Invisible border

Northern Ireland serves as the only land border between the United Kingdom and the European Union and its status has been a sensitive subject since the 1998 Good Friday agreement ended sectarian violence.

By making Northern Ireland a de facto part of the European single market, the treaty ensures that trucks carrying goods don't face checkpoints when they travel to the Republic of Ireland, an EU country.

Sefcovic told reporters the bloc would not renegotiate the protocol, which also creates a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in the Irish Sea.

“Any renegotiation would simply bring further legal uncertainty for people and businesses in Northern Ireland,” Sefcovic added. 

Legal loophole

Meanwhile Britain has conceded its bill rewriting parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol was at odds international law – but countered the move was allowed under the so-called “doctrine of necessity” clause.

A legal statement accompanying the bill claims the protocol has strained Northern Ireland’s institutions, society and politics to the point it required new laws to override it.

Johnson earlier insisted the changes to the protocol were “trivial adjustments” intended to ease trade disruptions between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Northern Ireland’s main unionist party, the DUP, has refused to take part in a power-sharing government with nationalists Sinn Féin until the bill becomes law.

Sinn Féin argues the DUP is holding the political future of the province to ransom, with the dispute stoking real fears of a return to sectarian violence.

Read also:

• Britain, EU set for tense showdown over Northern Ireland trade rules
• Irish PM warns of dangers of 'shocking', 'unnecessary' UK-EU trade war