Brexit, Von der Layen vs. Great Britain: ‘He broke the rules’

BRUSSELS – The European Union initiates legal action against the United Kingdom for London’s breach of the Brexit divorce pact. The announcement comes directly from the president of the community executive, Ursula von der Leyen: “The European Commission today sent the UK a formal notification letter for breach of its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement. It is the beginning of a formal infringement procedure against the UK which has one month to go. Respond to the today’s letter “. From London they know that Boris johnson it does not intend to backtrack on internal market legislation, which is the subject of the dispute.

Playing now ….

The Europeans had clearly told the British: withdraw the law that violates the Withdrawal Agreement in the part concerning Northern Ireland by the end of September, otherwise there will be legal action. Once the ultimatum expired, the European Commission, supported by governments, took action. The law passed on September 9 by London and challenged by the EU modifies the divorce agreement signed at the beginning of the year according to which Ulster would have aligned itself with the rules of the European single market so as not to recreate a physical border with the Republic of Ireland that , it is feared, could ruin the peace of Good Friday.

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Aligning Belfast with EU rules means preventing the border from going back between the two Irishmen and at the same time passing products and goods that do not meet European standards on health, counterfeiting, etc. In short, the proportion it was to avoid a huge hole in the European single market.

“Representatives of the British government – writes Brussels – have recognized this violation (by law, ed), stating that its purpose was to allow him to deviate definitively from the obligations derived from the divorce Protocol” approved and ratified by both parties. “The British government – the Europeans add – has not managed to withdraw the controversial parts of the bill, despite the requests of the Union. The United Kingdom has violated its obligation to act in good faith, as established in article 5 of the “withdrawal agreement”.

London may still be affected by the EU infringement procedure, with all consequences in case of conviction, as it remains a member country of the Union until 31 December, the day on which the transition period will expire and the Kingdom will formally leave the club. European. Faced with the initiative from Brussels, the Johnson government, however, builds a wall. “We need to create a buffer zone to protect the integrity of the Kingdom’s market,” a Downing Street spokeswoman vehemently responds.

Meanwhile, difficult negotiations continue, made even more tense by the EU procedure, to close a trade agreement regulating future relations between the two blocs (the infringement concerns the divorce agreement). In these hours the negotiators are still at the table but the English Internal Market Law and London’s requests to maintain commercial relations with the EU without guaranteeing compliance with competition rules have poisoned the wells.

In theory, an agreement should be reached by the end of October to allow ratification of the trade agreement. In recent days von der Leyen had stated that “an agreement is still possible”, but relations between the two banks of the Canal, as evidenced by the infringement proceedings initiated today, are very tense. In the coming weeks there will be a moment of truth with the classic last-mile negotiation drama. Failure to negotiate would raise a barrier of tariffs and retaliation between the two blocs that would damage the economy, especially the British one, already hit by Covid.