The European Commission on Monday threatened the British government with legal action after the presentation of his bill unilaterally calling into question the post-Brexit customs status of Northern Ireland.
“It is with great concern that we note the UK government’s decision today to introduce legislation reversing key elements of the protocol. Unilateral action damages mutual trust,” Vice President Maros Sefcovic said. He raised the prospect of resuming infringement proceedings against London in March 2021 -which may lead to a referral to European justice-, and to initiate new actions.
“Continue negotiations in good faith”
For its part, the United States urged the United Kingdom on Monday to “continue negotiations in good faith” with the European Union to break the impasse over the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland.
In a phone call, the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken pleaded with his British counterpart Liz Truss for a “solution which preserves the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement” signed in 1998 to put an end to three decades of violence between unionists, especially Protestants, and republicans, with a Catholic majority.