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The EU has threatened to block UK food exports if trade negotiations fail, claiming there were “many uncertainties” about the UK’s animal hygiene regime.
The statement was made today by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier after the latest round of Brexit talks.
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Barnier said he needed “more clarity” if Britain was to receive the “list of third countries” giving it the right to export animal products to the EU.
The “list of third countries” is made up of other countries such as Andorra, New Zealand, the United States and South Korea.
On the British side, there was surprise at the comments as the UK continues to apply EU standards, although the issue is understood to have been raised earlier in the negotiations.
A government spokesman said: “The right to export is the absolute basis of a relationship between two countries that trade agricultural products.
“It is a license to export and completely separate from the issue of food standards. It would be very unusual for the EU to go this route and reject the listing in the UK.”
In 2019 the UK exported approximately £ 5.7bn worth of food.
‘FREE TRADE OFFER IS STILL POSSIBLE’
Issue 10 has insisted that a free trade agreement with the EU is still possible after Brexit despite the looming threat of legal action from Brussels.
After a stormy meeting in London on Thursday, the commission warned that the UK was putting trade negotiations at risk and said it would “not be shy” in taking legal action.
In Brussels, European Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said they would consider what action to take if the UK had not yet withdrawn the provisions of the internal market bill by month-end.
“We have set a deadline for the UK. We are going to take this step by step.
“We will await the reaction of the United Kingdom in that period,” he said.
“We will consider the next steps once we have reached that particular bridge.”
The European Commission has given the UK until the end of September to withdraw legislation allowing ministers to override the provision of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement related to Northern Ireland.
We have engaged constructively with the EU throughout this process. We have negotiated in good faith and will continue to do so.
Government spokesman
However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson reiterated the Government’s position that the provisions of the UK Internal Market Act remained “critical” to the preservation of the Northern Ireland peace process.
He said the UK will continue to fight for a deal and called on the EU to show more “realism”.
“We have engaged constructively with the EU throughout this process. We have negotiated in good faith and will continue to do so,” the spokesman said.
“We still believe there is an agreement to be reached. We will work hard to achieve it.
“What we have been asking for is more realism from the EU about what it means for the UK to have left the EU and become a sovereign nation again.”
Meanwhile, Gordon Brown joined fellow former prime ministers Theresa May and Sir John Major in condemning the government’s plan, describing it as “a great act of self-harm.”
“You cannot expect to have a decent negotiation with the European Union if you start by breaking a treaty that you yourself signed and negotiated only a few weeks ago,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Ireland’s European Minister Thomas Byrne said that far from protecting the Good Friday Agreement, the UK’s actions pose a “serious risk” to the peace process.
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“It is a totally unacceptable way of doing business. This was a unilateral act of provocation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
However, some Tory Brexit supporters urged Johnson to go even further and abandon the Withdrawal Agreement entirely.
Former Minister Steve Baker said: “I think we should now be ready to repudiate the entire treaty on the basis of the bad faith of the EU, which in my opinion is beyond question.”
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