Brexit POLL: Should UK be worried about EU legal retaliation over NI Protocol row?

Brexit: UK's 'unacceptable breach' slammed by MEP

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Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission, announced legal action against the UK Government as unilateral action is planned to scrap parts of the Brexit deal. The EU claims plans to override aspects of the 2019 Brexit deal to simplify trade with Northern Ireland are a violation of international law.

Mr Sefcovic said the UK should “be prepared for the worst” as the EU moves to block action by the UK Government. 

He told Sky News journalist Beth Rigby: “We will be permanently pointing towards the huge advantages of our approach over unilateral proposals that came from the UK.”

Mr Sefcovic insisted that the approach taken by the EU was the correct decision and that the trade checks held “huge advantages”.

He added: “We really have the interests of the people in Northern Ireland in our heart.

“We absolutely want to make sure that they would benefit from the access to the single market, from having the possibility to export to 500 million people.”

The Vice President continued: “We want to provide them with legal certainty, with clarity, with stability.

“With these goals, we are ready to work with the UK Government and with all political leaders in Northern Ireland.”

Despite opposing the UK’s proposals to adjust the Brexit deal, Mr Sefcovic said the EU was still open to discuss the matter.

The Northern Ireland protocol enforces checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to allow an open border with Ireland, which remains within the EU’s single market and customs union.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss proposed alterations to the Brexit deal in a newly published Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

The Government has justified unilateral action to restore the power-sharing Government in Northern Ireland.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is pushing for the legislation to be passed before it enters a new power-sharing executive.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP leader, welcomed the protocol bill and  told BBC radio’s Good Morning Ulster: “Parliament can either choose to go forward with the [Good Friday] agreement and the political institutions and stability in Northern Ireland, or the protocol, but it can’t have both.”

So what do YOU think? Should the UK be worried about EU legal retaliation over the Northern Ireland Protocol row? Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Do you think the EU will exist in 20 years’ time?

Former chancellor George Osborne said the UK would be back in the EU within the next 20 years but a political commentator has slammed this claim stating that the EU may not even exist in 20 years’ time.

Political commentator Benjamin Loughnane told TalkTV: “Yeah, well I mean George Osborne says we’ll be back in 20 years.

“That is if the EU even exists in 20 years, I don’t think it will, certainly not in the form that it currently exists.

“Because if it does then that will be a shocking lack of growth, for an organisation which desperately needs to reform itself or go bust effectively.”

The EU was formed in 1993 after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty and currently has 27 members.

The UK left the EU on January 31, 2020, four years after the Brexit referendum.

Mr Osborne claims that the decision to leave has harshly impacted the British economy.

However, Mr Loughnane said: “The reason the economy is in a shambles isn’t because of Brexit it’s because of lockdown, let’s face it we’ve had two years of the economy completely shut down.

“How can you turn around and blame that on Brexit, it is absolutely farcical.”

So what do YOU think? Will the EU exist in 20 years’ time? Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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