UK Edition
The European Union on Wednesday launched three separate lawsuits against Britain in retaliation for the Government’s plan to override the Northern Ireland Protocol as Downing Street rejected the bloc’s olive branch to end the dispute.
Maros Sefcovic, a European Commission vice-president, said there was no doubt the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill was a breach of international law and “is extremely damaging to mutual trust and respect between the EU and the UK”.
“Let there be no doubt, there is no legal, nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement,” he added.
“Opening the door to unilaterally changing an international agreement is a breach of international law as well. So let’s call a spade a spade. This is illegal."
Sefcovic: 'We do not seek a political victory'
In response to the legislation, Mr Sefcovic on Wednesday restarted an old infringement procedure launched in March 2021 over the suspension of food checks and opened two new cases over Britain's refusal to honour commitments in the Protocol open border inspection posts and share customs data with the EU.
But the Slovak diplomat refused to use the bloc's powers to punish Britain for tabling the bill, and instead opened the door to talks to de-escalate mounting tensions.
"We do not seek a political victory," Mr Sefcovic told reporters in Brussels. "What we want is to find workable, long-term solutions based on the law."
Despite his accusations of an egregious breach of international law, Mr Sefcovic insisted his door was open for further negotiations as the bloc was not ready to trigger a trade war.
He said: "Despite all this and our experience of the past 18 months, we do it.
"Our doors are open, we are ready to engage on how to ensure the operation of the Protocol is as smooth as possible," he added.
"If this draft bill becomes the law, I, of course, cannot exclude anything. But we are not there yet, and we want to solve this issue as two partners should through negotiations."
In a bid to end a months-long impasse, the European Commission fleshed out proposals, first published in October 2021, to cut customs checks on goods sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Mr Sefcovic outlined a plan to slash the amount of paperwork required for supermarket lorries from hundreds of sheets to just three.
A government source, however, accused the top eurocrat of proposing "reheated" options that "businesses have already said won't work".
"This is a blast from the past from Sefcovic," they added.