Brexit: EU plans ‘carrot and stick’ approach to UK’s Northern Ireland move
The EU will take a “carrot and stick” approach to Boris Johnson’s plan to unilaterally rewrite the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, by taking legal action against the UK while offering fresh grounds for negotiation.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s Brexit commissioner, will on Wednesday signal the widespread fury among member states, and in Dublin in particular, at the approach of the prime minister to Northern Ireland after the tabling of new legislation on Monday.
In a first move, the EU will restart frozen legal proceedings over past failures of the UK government to implement checks on goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and the bloc will also launch two more on the lack of data sharing and border control posts.
The nuclear threat of suspending parts of the wider trade deal could also be executed in time, should the legislation tabled come into law – a process that is likely to take up to 18 months as the bill moves through the Commons and Lords.
However, Šefčovič remains determined to offer Johnson’s government a way to climb down from its position, despite the bitterness that is now felt in Brussels and Dublin over the actions of the UK government.
When he speaks to journalists in the Belgian capital on Wednesday to explain the EU’s next moves, Šefčovič will elaborate on the flexibilities that the bloc is offering over customs and agrifood checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain.
Sources said proposals made last year would be fleshed out further and that the EU believed a negotiated solution remained possible.
Johnson’s claims that the legislation he has proposed is “trivial” and justified under international law, given the “necessity” to act in the face of grave danger of unrest in
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