Brexit: NGO coalition calls on Barnier to stress need for cross-border environmental solution
April 27th, 2018
An environmental coalition has called on Michel Barnier to stress the need for a solution to the border issue post-Brexit that maintains full alignment of environmental rules on the island of Ireland.
The EU’s top Brexit negotiator will be in Ireland on Monday to give a keynote address at the fourth plenary meeting of the All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit.
In a letter sent to Mr Barnier this week, the Environmental Pillar states that it welcomes Mr Barnier’s speech at the Green 10 event in the European Parliament earlier this month.
At the event, the former French Environment Minister said that the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU must include “precise provisions on a level playing field” in environmental matters.
The letter thanks Mr Barnier for his “clear commitment” to ensuring high levels of environmental protection in the future EU-UK relationship, and calls on him to “commit to the same” when it comes to the island of Ireland.
Michael Ewing of the Environmental Pillar speaking at Brexit conference in Dundalk, 2017 Photo: Niall Sargent
The draft Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland “fails to guarantee” full alignment with all relevant environmental rules in relation to North-South cooperation, the letter states.
This is particularly worrying, the Pillar warns, as the UK’s withdrawal from the EU poses a “set of significant and unique challenges for the environment on the island of Ireland”.
Not only does this risk undermining environmental protection across the island of Ireland, it also risks setting a dangerous precedent for the wider EU-UK future relationship, the letter reads.
There are currently over 650 pieces of EU legislation in place that act as the principal drivers of environmental protection in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union currently play a crucial role in overseeing and enforcing compliance with these standards and securing access to justice for citizens and civil society organisations.
According to the Pillar, these governance structures play a “central role” in supporting environmental cooperation, driving environmental improvements, and providing the “level playing field” necessary to support “frictionless North-South trade on a sustainable basis”.
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