European Council and European Parliament: Northern Ireland

(asked on 12th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government in which areas (1) the European Parliament, or (2) the European Council, are co-legislators for Northern Ireland.


Answered by
Viscount Younger of Leckie Portrait
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 24th May 2021

The Government do not recognise the concept of a co-legislator. The legislatures for Northern Ireland are the Assembly and the Houses of Parliament. The Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol gives effect to a limited group of technical EU legal rules considered necessary to facilitate trade and the movement of agrifoods.

The Protocol provides for forums in which forthcoming legislation can be discussed, including whether new areas of law should be applied. New pieces of EU legislation that amend or replace acts referred to in the Protocol are notified to the Joint Consultative Working Group. New EU legislation that is within the scope of the Protocol but does not amend or replace acts listed in the Annexes of the Protocol, does not apply unless there is a Joint Committee decision to add the new act.

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