ZCZC
BCN-05
TRADE-BRITAIN-EU-BREXIT
UK rejects EU call to back down over Brexit bill
LONDON, Sept 11, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Britain’s government on Thursday defied
threats from the European Union of legal action over contentious Brexit
legislation, and pushed back against a brewing revolt within its own ranks for
violating the binding divorce treaty.
The UK bill has further complicated the already messy Brexit process, as
Britain unpicks nearly 50 years of European integration, and European Commission
vice president Maros Sefcovic rushed to London to demand clarification.
The new bill’s potential implications for Northern Ireland — which is meant
to enjoy a special status after Brexit — also prompted a threatening reminder
from powerful US Democrat Nancy Pelosi for London to uphold the troubled
territory’s peace process.
Serving MPs and grandees of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives,
including former prime minister John Major and ex-party leader Michael Howard,
issued their own sharply-worded reminders that the rule of law is sacrosanct.
“How can we reproach Russia or China or Iran when their conduct falls below
internationally accepted standards, when we are showing such scant regard for
our treaty obligations?” Howard told the upper chamber House of Lords.
At the meeting, Sefcovic told senior British minister Michael Gove that
unless the measures were withdrawn “by the end of the month”, Brussels would
consider going to court.
The European Commission warned that Britain “has seriously damaged trust
between the EU and the UK”, and scorned Downing Street’s contention that the
bill will preserve the peace in Northern Ireland.
“In fact,” the statement said, Brussels “is of the view that it does the
opposite”.
The British government, however, signalled no retreat.
“I made it perfectly clear to the vice president Sefcovic that we would not
be withdrawing this legislation and he understood that. Of course he regretted
it,” Gove said.
Asked about the mounting disquiet in Conservative ranks, he said all sides
would get a chance to review the bill in parliament next week, and said it was
“critical” for businesses and peace in Northern Ireland.
– Rush job? –
The bill would give British ministers unilateral powers to regulate trade
among England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, once the force of EU law
expires after a post-Brexit transition period at the end of this year.
But under the EU withdrawal treaty, Britain is meant to liaise with Brussels
on arrangements for Northern Ireland, which will have the UK’s only land border
with the EU, and where 30 years of bloodshed ended with a historic peace deal in
1998.
France told Britain it was “unacceptable” to violate the EU treaty, and the
pound slumped further on currency markets with businesses growing ever-more
alarmed that the coronavirus-hit UK economy could fall off a Brexit cliff edge
at the end of this year.
Irish premier Micheal Martin, who spoke by phone with Johnson on Wednesday
evening, said such an outcome would be “gross irresponsibility” on top of the
economic havoc inflicted by Covid-19.
EU officials — and Johnson’s opponents at home including in the UK’s
devolved governments — have ridiculed Downing Street’s argument that the treaty
was written “at pace” and contained unforeseen problems relating to a protocol
on Northern Ireland.
But the British government published a legal position to spell out its belief
that, notwithstanding any binding promises to the EU, “parliament is sovereign
as a matter of domestic law and can pass legislation which is in breach of the
UK’s treaty obligations”.
– ‘No chance’ –
Sefcovic and Gove met on the last day of a parallel track of talks in London
this week over a future trading relationship between Britain and the European
Union.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Britain was still failing to move on
key areas and “significant differences remain”.
His UK counterpart, David Frost, said its position had always been clear and
it had “engaged in discussions in all areas”.
Both said they remained committed to securing a deal.
Johnson’s critics say the new bill is aimed partly at torpedoing the trade
talks, so Britain can go its own way and forge other deals free from EU
interference, not least with the United States.
However, House of Representatives Speaker Pelosi gave short shrift to any
hopes of Congress ratifying a future trade deal if Britain ploughs ahead with
the new Brexit bill.
The top-ranking Democrat said London must respect the EU treaty’s Northern
Ireland Protocol, which envisages borderless trade with EU member Ireland in
compliance with the 1998 peace pact.
“If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good
Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement
passing the Congress,” she warned.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1105HRS