Even after the completion of Brexit, the Northern Ireland question remains the most sensitive issue.
After the UK has left the EU, the dispute between the EU and Great Britain breaks out again.
Brussels / London - The European Union has initiated proceedings against Great Britain for violating the EU Withdrawal Treaty.
The EU Commission announced this on Monday in Brussels.
The background is a dispute over the Brexit * special rules for the British province of Northern Ireland.
Brussels accuses London of arbitrarily changing agreements and thus violating the contract negotiated in 2019.
The infringement proceedings are likely to put a further strain on the already strained EU-UK relations.
The so-called Northern Ireland Protocol in the Withdrawal Treaty provides that some rules of the EU internal market continue to apply to Northern Ireland.
This should make controls at the land border with the EU state Ireland on the common island superfluous.
But this creates a goods border between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain.
Imports need to be controlled.
Although a grace period of a few months with reduced controls was agreed, companies complain of problems.
In Northern Ireland, supermarket shelves remained empty at times.
Brexit: Great Britain creates a fait accompli - EU and Ireland react sharply
The first transition phase after the completion of Brexit at the turn of the year should be over by the end of March.
According to this, suppliers of animal products should have health certificates for deliveries from the UK to Northern Ireland.
But the British government announced a unilateral extension with reference to "often excessive consequences" of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Crisis talks between the EU and Great Britain did not help.
A few days later, London again created a fait accompli suspending an import ban on plants potted in soil from Britain.
The responsible EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has now reacted with two measures: On the one hand, he initiated infringement proceedings for violations of the EU rules that continue to apply in Northern Ireland.
This can lead to a lawsuit before the European Court of Justice and ultimately to fines - but probably not for months or years.
First, the UK has a month to comment.
In addition, Sefcovic wrote a "political letter" to his British colleague David Frost.
This calls on Great Britain to withdraw unilateral announcements.
These are a violation of the principle of trust referred to in the exit agreement.
The aim is to resolve the conflict within a month.
Otherwise, an arbitration process could arise.
Financial sanctions or even a suspension of clauses in the exit agreement and the Brexit trade agreement concluded at the end of 2020 are also possible.
Frost had already sharply rejected the EU criticism, stating that the British measures were lawful.
He spoke of "temporary, operational steps".
Video: Trade between the EU and Great Britain collapsed massively
The Northern Ireland question is considered to be one of the most difficult in connection with Britain's exit from the EU in 2020. In the British province, advocates of an independent united Ireland and supporters of the union with Great Britain fought each other for decades.
The conflict was defused with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
After that, both parts of the island became a common economic area with no visible border.
The fear is that Brexit will divide the island again.
Brexit: Are there any threats to controls at the inner-Irish border?
For the UK, the Northern Ireland Rules are politically sensitive as Northern Ireland may feel disconnected from the rest of the UK.
The EU, on the other hand, insists on import controls in Northern Ireland, since without them a kind of back door into the EU internal market could arise.
In the worst case, controls would have to be carried out at the inner-Irish border - politically unacceptable for the EU and its member Ireland.
The tone between London - around Prime Minister Boris Johnson - and Brussels is now very rough, most recently in the conflict over the corona vaccine *.
EU Council President Charles Michel accused Great Britain of having imposed an export ban.
London rejected this indignantly.
The main focus is on the product from the British-Swedish manufacturer Astrazeneca, which produces large quantities in Great Britain and also delivers there.
However, the company does not comply with delivery obligations to the EU, including with reference to export restrictions.
(dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
