EU Hammers UK with More Legal Actions to Assert Dominance in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Jack Montgomery

The European Union has launched four new “infringement procedures” against the United Kingdom for not caving to its demands on Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland, an essential part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the latter’s name would suggest, was rendered something of a “semi-colony” of the European Union after rehashed versions of Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deals with the EU were passed by the Boris Johnson administration, with the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol leaving the Province inside the EU customs zone and establishing an internal border between it and Great Britain.

However, the British government — and Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland, who favour keeping the Province in the UK and oppose it leaving to join EU Ireland —  feel Brussels has been enforcing this border with excessive deal, disrupting the flow of trade across the Irish Sea unreasonably. London is therefore attempting to pass a bill allowing ministers to alter certain aspects of its operation to ameliorate this disruption.

This has infuriated Brussels, which has so far been unwilling to change the Protocol to address British concerns, and it is now stepping up its legal actions to try and prevent London from moving to resolve the situation unilaterally.

“Despite repeated calls by the European Parliament, the 27 EU Member States and the European Commission to implement the Protocol, the UK Government has failed to do so,” the European Commission declared in a public statement.

“In a spirit of constructive cooperation, the Commission refrained from launching certain infringement procedures for over a year to create the space to look for joint solutions with the UK,” the unelected body claimed, as if it has really been open to compromise on the question of its continued control over swathes of the customs and regulatory regime in Northern Ireland.

“However, the UK’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful discussion since last February and the continued passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill through the UK Parliament go directly against this spirit,” it added, by way of justification for the infringement proceedings.

With Boris Johnson already ousted as Tory leader and set to be replaced as Prime Minister when a successor is chosen between Liz Truss, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretay, and Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, it is unclear whether the British will hold the line against the EU over Northern Ireland.

Sunak, a Brexit supporter in 2016, is reported to have been opposed to a decisive confrontation with the EU over the Protocol, and reluctant to diverge from the bloc on things like Value Added Tax (VAT) in case it causes upset in Brussels.

Truss, an arch-Remainer in 2016 and a former member of the eurofanatic Liberal Democrats party, has on the other hand been a driving force behind the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, having been put in charge of dealing with the situation in the Province by Johnson after Lord Frost resigned from his government.

Whether she would stick to her guns or revert to type once ensconced in Number 10 Downing Street remains to be seen, but it will be tough for the ex-Remainer to win over party members for the upcoming leadership election versus Sunak if she cannot demonstrate a full conversion to the Leave cause.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery
Follow Breitbart London on Facebook: Breitbart London

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.