The European Union announced on Wednesday that it will relaunch legal action against the UK over a draft law London unveiled that would override parts of the Brexit treaty. The Commission first began "an infringement procedure" against the UK in March 2021 but put it on hold in July that year to create space for more discussions over the key Brexit agreement which leaves Northern Ireland within the bloc's Single Market, creating a de-facto border in the Irish Sea. The UK government, which negotiated and agreed to the agreement -- called the Northern Ireland Protocol -- is now saying it endangers the Good Friday Agreement which ended decades of bloody sectarian violence in Ireland. They say that it is leading to political instability since Unionists, who want to retain strong links with Great Britain, are refusing to join a devolved government until their concerns over the Protocol are addressed. The draft law unveiled on Monday afternoon by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss overrides parts of the agreement by creating so-called green and red channels to waive customs checks for goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and are intended for the Northern Irish market only. It also wants to "ensure Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax breaks and spending policies as the rest of the UK, including VAT" and bypass the European Court of Justice in case of disputes and use "independent arbitration" instead. The EU's Brexit negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič told reporters that the draft bill is "illegal". "Let there be no doubt there is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement," he added. The infringement procedure that the EU first launched last year and that it is now restarting is over the UK's decision to unilaterally implement and then extend grace periods waving checks on sanitary and phytosanitary products such as agri-foods. It is also now launching two new procedures related to the continued lack of infrastructure and staffing to carry out customs checks in the UK and on London's failure to share trading data as required under the Protocol. The UK now has two months to answer the EU's concerns. Failure to provide an answer or if Brussels deems that answer unsatisfactory would result in the Commission referring the matter to the European Court of Justice. This could see the UK fined by the EU's top court, stoking fears of a trade war. — Euronews
