EU launches proceedings against London for breaching Brexit

The objective of the process is to restore compliance with the protocol in key areas, he stressed.

It should be noted that if the Government does not respond in two months, the entity will send the case to the Court of Justice of the EU, which in turn could determine the fines.

The first procedure, which is now being unfrozen, denounces that the United Kingdom does not apply the agreement in relation to the certificates required for the movement of agri-food products.

The other two new procedures are due to London’s non-compliance, on the one hand, with the obligations regarding European sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, in particular due to the lack of necessary controls and for not having adequate personnel and infrastructure, and on the other, for not sending data on trade statistics relating to Northern Ireland, as required by the Protocol.

A disappointment

The British government declared itself “disappointed” this Wednesday by the launch by the European Union of an infringement procedure against it after its decision to unilaterally modify the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland.

“We are disappointed that the EU has initiated this legal action,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters, justifying his decision by the failure of the negotiations because, he said, the proposals from Brussels represented a “setback”. .

The European Commission resumed the infringement procedure against the United Kingdom initiated on March 15, 2021 for failing to comply with the certification standards for the circulation of agri-food products.

The case had been suspended last year “in a spirit of constructive cooperation”, however London’s failure to engage in meaningful discussion since February and unilateral actions this week run counter to this spirit.

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