According to two people familiar with the government’s plans, the UK will begin “formal consultations” early this week, as they believe the bloc is unfairly excluding the island nation from the Copernicus Earth Observation Project, the Horizon Europe Research Fund and Euratom. .
While the move does not mean direct legal action, it does raise tensions a month after the European Union began its own legal proceedings against the United Kingdom in another dispute in response to Boris Johnson’s government’s plan to scrap some parts of the Brexit deal.
Several post-Brexit negotiations have stalled over the UK’s approach to Northern Ireland: In June, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss introduced legislation that would scrap part of the Brexit deal.
As collateral damage to the strained relationship, British scientists have been excluded from the EU’s £80 billion scientific research programme, forcing the UK to strike deals with other countries eager to share the £15 billion the government normally spends on funding Horizon.
Cover photo: Shutterstock
