EU takes legal action against UK for ‘Brexit law’ | NOW

The European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the United Kingdom on Thursday over the controversial Brexit law that the country has passed. According to the EC, this means that the country is not meeting the obligations set out in the withdrawal agreement. The UK has a month to respond to the letter.

With the letter, the EU starts formal infringement proceedings against the UK. The EU previously demanded that the British repeal the controversial Brexit law, which gives London the power to overrule parts of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, by 1 October. That did not happen, says President of the EC Ursula von der Leyen in a Thursday statement.

“We asked our British friends to get the problematic parts out of the law,” said von der Leyen. “The deadline expired today. The problematic parts have not been resolved. That is why the Commission decided this morning to send a letter of formal notice.”

If the British do not respond to the letter of formal notice before the end of this month, or if the answer is unsatisfactory, some sort of reminder will follow. If nothing is done about this either, the committee can go to the European Court of Justice.

A spokesman for the British government says to the news agency Reuters that the British have already “given clear reasons” to amend the Brexit law. “We need to create a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market, to ensure that ministers can always meet their commitments to Northern Ireland and to protect the benefits of the peace process.”

Time is running out

The current riot over the Brexit law is yet another obstacle in the Brexit process. Although the British have officially not been in the European Union since the beginning of this year, there is still a so-called transition period until 1 January 2021 in which almost everything remains the same. The transition period is intended to negotiate a trade agreement that should regulate the future trade relationship.

Although time would always be tight, time is now really running out, with no big plans on the table. EU negotiator Barnier has been pessimistic about the chance that an agreement will be on the table before the end of the transition period. Without such a trade agreement, there is a risk of a situation where much less favorable trade rules apply, which will cause a lot of economic and social unrest in both the EU and the UK.

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