EU, UK officials meet in emergency talks over controversial Brexit bill

Senior officials from the European Union (EU) and Britain met in London on Thursday for hastily arranged talks over a controversial Brexit bill as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intended to override key parts of the Withdrawal Agreement previously agreed with Brussels.

British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove talked with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic in an “extraordinary meeting.”

Sefcovic told Gove that violating the Withdrawal Agreement would break international law and jeopardize trade talks, according to an EU statement.

“In no uncertain terms” that the “timely and full implementation” of the divorce deal is “a legal obligation,” said the statement.

Sefcovic urged the British government to withdraw these measures that break international law from the bill “by the end of the month,” adding that the Withdrawal Agreement “contains a number of mechanisms and legal remedies to address violations of the legal obligations contained in the text, which the EU will not be shy in using.”

Issuing its own robust response, the British government said it would “discharge its treaty obligations in good faith,” but added that “in the difficult and highly exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is important to remember the fundamental principle of parliamentary sovereignty.”

Rejecting Britain’s arguments that the bill is designed to protect peace in Northern Ireland, the EU argued that “it does the opposite.”

Sefcovic said that by presenting the draft United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, the British government has damaged the EU’s trust which the UK now has to re-establish.