The British government reiterated on Thursday its intention to maintain the proposed law that invalidates certain clauses of the Brexit agreement, rejecting the Brussels ultimatum that calls for a retreat until the end of the month.
The Minister of the Council of Ministers, Michael Gove, said he conveyed the message at an extraordinary meeting today in London of the EU-UK Joint Committee with the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Interinstitutional Relations, Maros Sefcovic.
“I explained to Vice President Sefcovic that we could not and would not, and instead emphasized the vital importance of reaching an agreement through the Joint Committee on these important issues. I made it perfectly clear that we would not withdraw the legislation, ”he said in statements broadcast on Sky News.
Gove reiterated London’s determination to implement the United Kingdom’s Withdrawal Agreement from the European Union (EU) and the Northern Ireland Protocol, but Brussels fears that the commitments made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson are at risk.
At issue is a proposal for a law on the Internal Market in the United Kingdom published on Wednesday, against which the European Commission threatened legal action, warning that “violation of the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement would violate international law, undermine confidence and would jeopardize future ongoing negotiations on relations ”.
In a statement, Sefcovic said he told Gove “unequivocally, that the timely and full implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, including the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland […] it is a legal obligation. The EU expects the commitment and spirit of this agreement to be fully respected ”and expects a retreat by the end of the month.
The draft law for the “Internal Market” runs counter to parts of the Withdrawal Agreement, failing to apply EU law in the event that negotiations for a post-Brexit trade agreement fail on issues such as export declarations, state support and customs controls relatively involving Northern Ireland.
The Withdrawal Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol were drafted with the aim of protecting the peace process in Northern Ireland, avoiding the need for a physical border between British territory and EU member Ireland, so any control Customs would have to be done between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, which are separated by the Irish Sea.
The British Government argues that the proposed legislation is a “safety net” in case there is no understanding for a trade agreement to resolve legal problems and avoid “creating new barriers to trade between different parts of the United Kingdom, unnecessary bureaucracy for additional costs for consumers ”.
The British Parliament can approve the government’s draft law, which violates parts of the United Kingdom’s European Union (EU) withdrawal agreement, without committing an illegality, according to a legal opinion published Thursday.
The text, published on the government portal, reads that “it is an established principle of international law that a State is obliged to fulfill its obligations under a treaty in good faith. This is, and will continue to be, the key principle for the UK’s approach to international relations ”.
However, he adds, “in the difficult and highly exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is important to remember the fundamental principle of parliamentary sovereignty.”
Parliament is sovereign over domestic law and can pass legislation that violates UK treaty obligations. Parliament would not be acting unconstitutionally when enacting such legislation ”, he says.
The opinion invokes a decision by the Supreme Court in 2017 concerning the denunciation of Article 50 of the European Treaty to formalize the request for withdrawal from the EU after the Brexit referendum, and which forced the British government to take the matter to a vote in parliament.
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