Sir, – The “motorway” of EU legislation applicable in Northern Ireland, referred to by Newton Emerson (Opinion, March 17th) is part of the withdrawal agreement negotiated, signed and ratified by the UK. He also fails to mention that the continued application of this same legislation is what places Northern Ireland in its uniquely advantageous position, whereby it has unfettered access to the EU single market as well as the UK internal market.
Secondly, his choice of language is deliberately misleading as it suggests vast quantities of EU legislation are constantly being applied to Northern Ireland. In fact, research by Queen’s University Belfast demonstrates that the number of EU acts that apply in post-Brexit Northern Ireland has actually decreased since the protocol entered into force.
In October of last year, the commission proposed six ways in which the EU could strengthen its engagement with Northern Ireland stakeholders and authorities. Unfortunately, the circus that has dominated British politics has prevented us from making headway here.
As for Mr Emerson’s spurious assertion that the European Parliament is “not a proper parliament”, a view very much out of date and might have been reasonable before the Lisbon Treaty.
The parliament acts as co-legislator with the member states’ ministers, not unlike a typical bicameral model. It can block trade deals and has a veto over the EU’s budget. It has the power to dismiss some or all of the College of Commissioners. It has to approve the appointment of the commission president. It also has led the EU’s Green Deal Agenda with the new Climate Law.
Finally, Mr Emerson quotes David Frost’s latest nonsense on the protocol without mentioning whether he considers Frost’s current domicile, the House of Lords, to be a proper legislature.
– Yours, etc,
BARRY ANDREWS MEP,
Dublin.