EU pauses threat of legal action against U.K. over Brexit deal

The European Union has backed off a threat of imminent legal action against the U.K. over breaches of the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit agreement as the two sides try to work through their differences.The delay in legal action, confirmed by an EU spokesperson, comes after EU ambassadors were told last week that the bloc was planning to file a so-called reasoned opinion by the end of the month.

The EU spokesperson said the pause on moving toward infringement procedures was aimed at providing negotiating room to resolve some of the issues raised by the protocol. Officials from the two sides will be talking through the summer to find technical solutions, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that it was unlikely that all the issues could be solved and reaffirmed that the deal agreed by Boris Johnson’s government could not be renegotiated.

Under the terms of the deal on Northern Ireland, some goods shipped there from Britain face customs checks and procedures as if they are crossing into the EU. The U.K. says this is causing “significant disruption” to trade between the Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

The dispute escalated after David Frost, the British minister for EU affairs, demanded that the bloc renegotiate the protocol.

Earlier on Tuesday, the EU’s executive arm published a document highlighting various areas where the bloc said it had shown flexibility, from changing its rules on medicines to the free movement of guide dogs, while criticizing the British government for not implementing several aspects of the agreement.

“The U.K. has not adopted a similar constructive attitude,” the paper said, citing several examples where it said London fell short, including:

• The construction work of permanent border control posts has been halted.
• The temporary facilities in place in Northern Ireland do not work to their full capacity and have acute human resource problems.
• The traceability requirements agreed as part of the grace periods in December 2020 to ensure that the food products concerned are only sold to consumers in supermarkets in Northern Ireland are not complied with.

“If the Protocol is now to achieve its goals, then it needs to be implemented fully and effectively,” the paper said. “This is a shared responsibility.”

The commission has long suggested that the U.K. should agree to continue to follow, even if only temporarily, the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary rules as that would remove the need for most checks. But the U.K. says that the issue is a matter of sovereignty and has pushed for equivalence arrangements instead.

The EU won’t renegotiate the protocol, the spokesperson reiterated, but will continue to discuss its implementation.