The European Union has launched new legal proceedings against the United Kingdom over its failure to implement parts of the post-Brexit deal it agreed with the bloc
The British government published plans earlier this week to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, the part of the deal designed to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open and avoid a return to sectarian violence.The European Commission said it launched the infringement proceeding because the UK has failed to implement the agreement"despite repeated calls" to do so.
The agreement was put in place to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, which helped end years of deadly sectarian violence and which mandates that there should be no hard border between the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which has left the EU alongside the rest of the UK.Boris Johnson is picking a Brexit fight at a very risky momentTo avoid a hard border, the UK has agreed to keep Northern Ireland within the EU regulatory scheme.