Tits and tats #94

The EC is still playing silly buggers:

 Comply with Northern Ireland protocol before expecting changes, EU tells UK

The European commission has ruled out major changes to the Brexit deal’s Northern Ireland protocol, saying it would not even consider any flexibility unless the UK first meets its obligations under the pact in full.... border control posts at ports in Northern Ireland were “not yet fully operational”, while official controls were “currently not being performed in compliance with the withdrawal agreement protocol and EU rules”....Packages were not being monitored as required by the 17 December agreement, he said, goods were entering Northern Ireland “without being declared or without valid certificates”, and the UK had “not yet fulfilled its obligation” to allow EU inspectors real-time access to key UK customs IT systems....Šefčovič said he was “convinced that all of these are teething problems, for which we should be able to find swift solutions”,

Meanwhile, el Grun's view is predictable: 

The Guardian view on the Brexit aftermath: the price of dishonesty

The EU blundered over vaccines and Northern Ireland, but the UK is deep in denial about the deal it has signed

The commission reminds the UK that it has signed a treaty and is bound by its provisions. Buyer’s remorse is not grounds to renege. The UK side insists that Brussels is failing to respect its neighbour and trying to dictate terms instead of conducting a dialogue between equals.

It is hard to overstate how reckless and counterproductive that move was. The article 16 mechanism is meant to be a last resort, not a standard tool in the diplomatic arsenal. By reaching for it so early, Ms von der Leyen squandered moral authority and goodwill on an issue where both are needed to coax the UK into normalisation of the new arrangements....EU officials note that Boris Johnson threatened repudiation of the protocol last year, even before it had been ratified, so the squandering of goodwill started on the UK side. 

 Across the UK, firms and consumers are discovering costs of Brexit that Mr Johnson denied. That denial was born of a failure to understand the trade-off between regulatory autonomy and market access....the greater obstacle is British ministers’ unwillingness to accept that the rules they now find so objectionable are the same ones they so recently cheered as a triumph. Either they failed to understand the deal, or had no intention of keeping their word

Unfortunately, there is something in the Graun's view here. The UK Government did not realise the extent to which the EC could and would introduce spoiling tactics and restrictive practices, at least in the short term, and be as obstructive as possible. It was not clear what they could have done even if they had anticipated the dirty tricks, or what they can threaten in return.Longer term I think lessons will be lerarned but for now they do have the power to make things difficult.

For me, it is part of a wider lesson. The whole struggle has been nastier and more costly than I ever thought. I imagined capital would make things a lot smoother despite the objections of the politicos and bureaucrats, that the balance of powere did not lie with them ultimately. Far too capital-reductive on my part!

The other factor is the old lesson of emergent or unintended consequences, represented by Covid. Imagine the outcry at  job losses and shoortages of Sainsbury's goods had the virus not got there first!