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ARTICLE 16 HAS screamed back into the headlines this week as the UK threatens to trigger the clause of the Northern Ireland Protocol because it is not happy with how it is being implemented.
The UK’s Brexit Minister David Frost warned today that time is “running out” on talks to restructure the arrangement.
“We’re not going to trigger Article 16 today, but Article 16 is very much on the table,” Frost said.
The move could undermine the withdrawal agreement and potentially pave the way for a trade war.
The Taoiseach used strong language in cautioning against triggering the clause, saying it would have “far reaching implications” for the UK government’s relationships with Ireland and the EU.
Micheál Martin said it would be “irresponsible, unwise and reckless” and would shake the foundations of the Good Friday Agreement.
The article is a clause in the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is one of the key elements in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that legally enabled the UK to exit the European Union.
The protocol means Northern Ireland is effectively remains part of the EU’s single market for goods. It allows goods to flow freely between Ireland and Northern Ireland and removes the threat of a hard border.
Article 16 allows either side to take “safeguard” measures if it concludes that the protocol is causing “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade”.
Article 16 itself runs to less than 200 words in length, which is impressively concise considering the terabytes of news articles its existence has generated.
The UK has threatened to trigger the clause several times since it signed the withdrawal agreement. However, the European Commission went further and signalled its intention to trigger the article when it was embroiled in a row with AstraZeneca over vaccines.
That proved to be a pretty spectacular misstep and the Commission quickly performed an embarrassing climbdown.
In order to trigger the clause the UK is obliged to prove that the protocol has given rise to “serious economic, societal or environmental” difficulties.
Frost has repeatedly claimed that the conditions to trigger it are met because of the obstruction to trade flow between Britain and Northern Ireland.
Triggering the article kickstarts a formal process that requires both sides to engage in talks to resolve the dispute.
Professor Federico Fabbrini, director of DCU’s Brexit Institute, says using the provision is not the silver bullet many in UK politics seem to believe it is.
Rather, if the UK did pull the cord on the provision it set off would off a lengthy process –detailed in annexe 7 of the protocol – where the two sides carry out consultations with a view to finding a commonly acceptable solution.
The article also states that any measures taken under the provision must be strictly necessary and proportionate and should achieve their objectives with the least possible damage to the protocol.
“Article 16 in itself doesn’t solve anything,” Professor Fabbrini explained.
A party can invoke it, but the effect will simply be that the other party will then be enabled by the provision of the protocol to replicate and to adopt countermeasures.
“We don’t know exactly what the EU would do if Britain were to trigger Article 16 because it has never been explicit about this.
“I’m totally mindful that politics will trump the law on this matter, but legally speaking, this is not a silver bullet provision. This is not something that allows the UK to achieve much by itself.”
Professor Fabbrini said the UK’s continuing targeting of the Northern Ireland protocol is part of a strategy to attempt to dismantle anything it negotiated in the withdrawal agreement that binds the UK to the EU.
“The protocol is the most obvious and the strongest way in which the European Union continues to influence the United Kingdom after Brexit. So, the strategy here, I think it’s quite explicit,” Fabbrini said.
The European law expert said the UK triggering the provision now would “mostly be a political declaration” that could backfire very quickly.
He said the fact that it is keeping its powder dry while the COP26 climate summit is taking place in Glasgow shows that it is aware of the likely political ramifications of the move.
“The UK is probably aware that there would be outrage across the world and particularly in Washington, DC, if this happened. They don’t want to do this during an international conference they are hosting,” he said.
“The UK doesn’t have a magic wand, whereby it can get rid of the protocol and solve all the problems.
The problems are created by Brexit and the protocol was the way to solve them.
“If the protocol isn’t the way to solve them there has to be another way. And nobody knows what this other way is.”
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63 grand… wow, should have gone to college
@dB O’Neill: And he’s only a jnr doc.
@dB O’Neill: You mean…should have done Medicine. Of course now you would have around a 1 in 4 chance of getting COVID-19
@D’oh: she
@dB O’Neill: You woukd also have needed to get excellent leaving cert and HPAT results, completed a what some might describe as a challenging 5 or 6 year degree, completed an intern year in which is the start of regularly working 60 hours weeks and at times 80 hour, then at leat 2 years as a SHO, during which in your free time you are completing mandatory exams with failure rates approaching 50% which cost several hundred euro a pop to sit. Also in your free time you are expected to complete audits and research to build up your CV to give you a chance to get on a highly comletetive specialist training program, which judging by this person salary she has just started. These training programs have far more applicants than spots, so it is not unusual for people to have to reapply multiple years in a row to finally get on. In addition to all this they are working in an under resourced service making life saving decisions regularly while sleep deprived and hungry. And now they are facing a world altering pandemic that is at our doorstep. You could always consider giving graduate medicine a go if you feel like it.
@Ian McBride: You could do just 1 year as an SHO and become a Registrar…just saying
@dB O’Neill: well it’s the overtime number that will boost the number
@Glangan: Apologies, I didn’t read the article, I just LOVE commenting. :-)
@dB O’Neill: going to college and doing medicine are not the same thing.
@D’oh: only? So what? Deserves even more than 63k.
@Bountyop: 1 in 4 infected people are medics, not 1 in 4 medics are infected. This is how crap info spreads.
@D’oh: she.
@dB O’Neill: it’s 83k gross with the overtime judging by the net pay
@dB O’Neill: You could try for graduate entry, take 100-150k loan , go back to college, quit work for 4 years, work 16 hour days – pass your exams ,then pay back 1000-2000 a month for 10 years.
@Kem Trayle: Fair enough, I’ll retract my previous comment. Let’s say you’re at higher risk then…
@Kem Trayle: A sobering thought is one medic a day is dying in Italy now…
To get 4400 net a month on that salary their OT would need to be able least 1600 pm before tax
@Bryan Moore: yes, that net pay figure is a bit suspicious, that works out at about €6750 gross a month
@Who cares?: For your name you really do care. deserves every penny. People coming out of college with business degrees and on 100k by 28 in the private sector serving nobody but a multinational and profits. Hospital Doctors are very underappreciated and there salary is not near reflective of what they should receive across the economy.
@Seagoat returns: calm down there Goat! Not putting down a doctors role!
All I’m saying is the figure seems odd for net, I can’t get that net take home pay and my salary is higher!
@Seagoat returns: 100k after four years on a business degree. Eh … No that’s far far from average. Be doing well to be on half that.
Her net salary looks totally wrong. Is she including piles of overtime in her calculation?
So they had time to fill this out during a week when our healthcare system is in meltdown over cv19?
@Natalka Mayo: so salty
@Natalka Mayo: Well they did say one of the days they didn’t get home until 8pm due to the tractor protest, so I presume this was well before Coronavirus ever came into Ireland as that tractor protest was a good while ago.
@Natalka Mayo: she mentions the tractor protest so I’m pretty sure this diary was before Christmas. But please continue being a begrudger. I’d imagine she works a hell of a lot more hours than the average worker.
@Natalka Mayo: how simple are you ffs?
@Natalka Mayo: clearly I didn’t read the article but great to see all the best coming out of people in the responses with the name calling etc
@Natalka Mayo: Maybe don’t comment smartly until you read the article in full then, what do you expect. That’s the problem with too many people on The Journal, far too quick to get to the comments section before actually reading the article.
I found it odd that it was a junior doctor this week considering what’s going on. God forbid I didn’t read the article and went straight to the comments. I wouldn’t be the first and I won’t be the last considering most of these don’t make sense so I jumped to the assumption that perhaps it was fake. My bad.
@Natalka Mayo: I find it odd someone would comment giving out about a person completing a diary without even reading it first. Says everything anyone needs to know about you.
@Natalka Mayo: Maybe because the health profession is very relevant currently and it gives an insight into their lives prior to this outbreak. One can only imagine how hectic their week is at the moment. Also, god forbid they actually take a half an hour out of their own time to carry out this interview. Would you actually condemn them for that!? The articles might make a bit more sense if you read them in full.
@Natalka Mayo: No she mentioned the tractor protest.. that was weeks ago before Covid-19 became an issue.
@Paula Leavy: “says everything everyone needs to know about you”
Really? Are you always this unforgiving and dismissive Paula? So according to you I’m a begrudger and I deserve to be dismissed cos I commented on an article without reading it. It would seem I’m not the only one who jumps to conclusion because not for a second was I begrudging this person yet you assumed I was and accused me of such. I shouldn’t be surprised though because one look at your twitter shows how you’re super quick to point the finger and condemn people. You’d wanna get down off your high horse there
How does she earn a thousand more than me and I earn 10K more ???
@Niamh Lyons: if you’re on nearly €75 k with take home of €3400. You need to have words with HR.
@Niamh Lyons: possibly overtime
@Niamh Lyons: has been dying for an opportunity to tell the world her salary
63k before tax?
@thesaltyurchin: it’s gross not including OT. Well deserved
@Seagoat returns: will you calm it! Jumping down people’s throats because they are trying to figure out how she gets that net pay! And fair play to her!
It would benefit the grocery shoppers if all banks reconsidered the card tapping facility and increased the limit from €30 to€50 for a period of time, most oldies doing a weekly shop would be glad to not have to interact with the debit machines as far as possible.
@Barney’s sister: they have done exactly that I think…..tapped for a €38 bill yesterday evening.
110 quid a month in tolls on top of car tax is just wrong
€500/month for a car? Is that reasonable?
That’s excellent money and he is still moaning.
@Waj Kahn: We have to work 60-90 hours per week. Work 1 in 3 weekends. Work weeks of nights. Study for exams that we have to pay for. Study for masters that we have to pay for. Do research projects in our already miniscule spare time that has potential to ammount to nothing. Also have to do all this until age 35. Have to have a PhD these days to become a consultant. Have to move every year to a different hospital. And on top of that we have one of the most stressful jobs on the planet.
@Waj Kahn: read ‘this is going to hurt’ by Adam kay and then talk to me about doctors moaning!
@Waj Kahn: where did they moan? Are we assuming it’s a “he” cos it’s a doctor
..I did speed read it as it was boring me so they might indeed have been gender specific.
@Waj Kahn: fool
@Winston Smith: get over it your education will always stand to you and create wealth for you and your children what do you expect at 35 a miracle ??
@Katherine Murray: little do you know
@Waj Kahn: Also not to mention, we very rarely get more than 1 weeks annual leave off in a row. We very often don’t get to take off full annual leave weeks. Can’t enjoy leave as you’re stressed about leaving the team down a member.
So income of 4400 and expenses of 2424 per month, nets 1976 per month. I reckon the OT is down as gross. Even still only saving 900 per month between them? Wheres the other 1526 going? Is that rent each of 1000 or 500 each? Personally I think she should do her budget on her set net income of 63k, omitting overtime, as this can vary month to month. I dont work for revolut (as I’ve mentioned it a few times in the past) but get a card and transfer a set amount in each month that you can live on. And let bills come from main current account. It’s an easier way to save cash I find anyway.
*atleast
Crap stories
@Pranab Vasudeva: I suggest not reading them then
The figures are most unclear.
To earn €1,100 net per week you would need to be on €110k per year.
It appears that this is the base salary plus overtime is in addition to €110k.
Rent at €1000 each is a rip off.
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