Britain wants to change the Brexit rules and has angered the European Union

The Northern Ireland Protocol was the most complicated document agreed between the EU and Great Britain to achieve Brexit. He established the final frontier between the kingdom and Great Britain and left the Irish province within the European single market. Now the British government has annihilated him and spawned a major diplomatic crisis with her neighbors in the Union.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tabled a bill, outlining proposals to remove checkpoints at most intersections between Great Britain in Northern Ireland and allow passage between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

legislation will prevail over the Northern Ireland section of the protocol of the post-Brexit agreement, which the UK agreed with the EU, violates international law and angered the European Union. But the British government insists it is not breaking any laws. The controversial bill, just published, was heavily criticized by senior EU officials.

Changes

The protocol amendment bill will unilaterally allow changes to the mechanism which, according to Boris Johnson, will facilitate the passage of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

British Chancellor Liz Truss insisted that the UK government “acts according to international law”. “We are changing the protocol. We will not delete the protocol. I think it’s important to recognize that, “Truss said, addressing the criticism of MPs in the Belfast assembly.

“We must act to protect people across the UK. We must act to protect peace and stability in Northern Ireland. This is exactly what we are doing,” Truss insisted.

Most members of the Northern Ireland Assembly say so reject the protocol legislation as “reckless”.

“Legislation to overturn the Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the law,” Brandon Lewis insisted, as opponents call the move “shameful”.

Truss also questioned that the legislation cannot be activated and is used for negotiation purposes. “We take this legislation completely seriously,” she added.

violation of the treaty

But despite the prime minister previously calling the protocol changes “trivial” and “unimportant”, senior EU officialswarned of the damage they may cause and hinted at possible legislative measures to prevent them.

An EU source said Brussels will resume legal proceedings against the UK for violating the 2020 Brexit treaty.

Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission, will release a statement after the British government has presented the legislation in parliament. It will be after notifying the British Chancellor on Monday morning that the decision has been taken to unilaterally cancel the agreement “detrimental to mutual trust and a formula for uncertainty “.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said the bill “marks a particularly low point in the UK’s approach to Brexit.” he warned him the plan would “increase” the tension and would violate the UK’s international commitments.

Additionally, the majority of Stormont Assembly MPs signed a joint letter to Boris Johnson, declaring its opposition to the legislation proposal to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But the prime minister insisted that the legislation would introduce “relatively simple” changes. He said it would be a “big overreaction” on the part of the EU if they attempted revenge by igniting a trade war.

The new bill creates a framework that allows Westminster ministers introduce changes in four areaswhich concern customs controls and agri-food safety, regulation, subsidy controls and the role of the European Court of Justice in a unilateral way.

They are in fact about to establish a hard border between the north and the south, that if they hold a referendum and win, they can become a new country and start the break-up of the UK.

threat to peace

Northern Ireland’s current Brexit deal poses a “serious and imminent” threat to peace and stability in the province, ministers argue, as it sets plans to unilaterally overturn key parts of the controversial protocol. It is supported by the Protestants of the DUP and opposed by the Republican and Catholic Sin Fein, who denounced “having violated an international treaty”.

In a bill released today, the government outlined proposals to be eliminated checkpoints at most intersections goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The controls were agreed as part of the Brexit agreement, signed by Boris Johnson in 2019.

The legislation would also allow Northern Irish companies continue to sell and produce goods, even if they do not comply with current or future EU regulations.

The role of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in Northern Ireland would also be limited, while the bill gives ministers the power to change VAT rates in Northern Ireland. Something that is not allowed under the current agreement.

An open door?

But the bill doesn’t go as far as Brexit Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party have been asking. Leave the door open for a negotiated deal with the EU to reform the protocol.

Basically, protocol changes will not necessarily go into effect when MPs and colleagues pass legislation. The ministers still regulations should be established for the entry into force of the new rules.

The bill could also be replaced by a future agreement with Brussels to reform the protocol: it does not completely rule out future governance arrangements.

In a legal opinion, published alongside the bill, ministers affirm that the changes to the protocol, which have not been agreed with the EU, respect international law because they act according to the doctrine of “necessity”.

This defense allows a state to violate its obligations in a treaty it has signed, if it can prove that it is taking action “Safeguarding an essential interest against serious and imminent danger”.

In launching the bill, the foreign minister said the legislation was necessary to support the Good Friday agreement, undermined by the current protocol, and to “support political stability in Northern Ireland”.

“It will end the unsustainable situation in which people in Northern Ireland They are treated differently from the rest of the UK. It will protect the supremacy of our courts and our territorial integrity, “said the chancellor.

“This is a practical and reasonable solution to the problems Northern Ireland faces. It will safeguard the EU single market and ensure that there are no physical borders on the island of Ireland. “

“We are ready to achieve this through talks with the EU. But we can only move forward through negotiations, if the EU is willing to change the protocol itself. At the moment they are not. Meanwhile, the dire situation in Northern Ireland means that we cannot allow the situation to be diverted, “said the British Chancellor.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmker said the government “is going in the wrong direction. The answer is that there are some problems in the protocol, but they need to be negotiated at the table, with confidence, “he said.

Furious Ireland

During a brief and tense phone call, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Truss that the move it would violate international law and Britain’s commitment to the Brexit deal.

Coveney described unilateral action as “a particularly low point in the UK’s approach to Brexit”. He accused Truss of not engaging in meaningful negotiations since February.

During the 12-minute call, he added that the move would be “deeply detrimental to relationships on these islands and between the UK and the EU.

Good Friday

Any Brexit deal it must privilege and protect the Good Friday agreement, which put an end to the troubled province and its civil war of 3,000 dead, bringing about peace between Protestants and Catholics. It was a negotiation between all the guerrillas, promoted by the government of John Major, Tony Blair, Ireland and by the mediation of the United States.

Boris Johnson said the bill would be “a relatively trivial set of adjustments to the grand scheme of things”.

“What we have to respect, and this is crucial, is the balance and symmetry of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Y we must understand that there are two traditions in Northern Ireland, probably two ways of looking at border issues. A community right now feels very, very alienated from the way things work and very alienated. And we just have to fix it, “said the prime minister, who is trying to calm the protesters.

Ministers hope the bill will be enough to convince the DUP to share power again at the Belfast Legislative Assembly before autumn.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson described the legislation as an “important step”. But he said the party “was not under pressure” to make a quick decision on returning to power.

PB