Reckless travelers returning from the EU may have their sandwiches and local specialties, such as cheese, confiscated when they enter the United Kingdom.
The luggage in which they transport their goodies can also be seized and destroyed – and if the border force catches them to try to pass meat or dairy products without declaration, they could face criminal charges.
The new Jeopardy arrived because last weekend, The government has discreetly “extended” its “ban on imports of personal meat to protect farmers from foot and mouth”.
Or may not be bureaucratic over-reaction.
It is certainly just another obstacle to the authorities of the EU and British who are actively launching between them and their citizens – at a time when political leaders continue to say that the two parties should come together in the face of the attacks of Donald Trump against European trade and security.
Keir Starmer embarked on a reset with European leaders. Pic: Reuters
The ban on bringing “cattle, sheep, goats and pork, as well as dairy products, EU countries in Great Britain for personal use”, is by meaning “to protect the health of British livestock, farmers’ safety and food security of the United Kingdom”.
There are bitter memories of previous epidemics of foot disease in this country in 1967 and 2001.
In 2001, more than 2,000 cases of infection were confirmed, which led to the detraction of six million sheep and cattle. The trails were closed across the country and the general elections had to be delayed.
In the EU this year, five cases were confirmed in Slovakia and Four in Hungary. There was a Unique epidemic in Germany In January, although Defra, the British agriculture department, says it is no longer significant.
THE The United Kingdom has imposed prohibitions on imports of personal meat and dairy products from these countriesAnd Austria, earlier this year.
The authorities wear a disinfectant near a farm in Dunakiliti, Hungary. Pic: Reuters
Better than more sorry?
None of the infection cases are in the three most popular countries for British visitors – Spain, France and Italy – now joining the ban. Places from which travelers are most likely to bring a little cheese, salami or chorizo.
Could the government make a show to the farmers that it is for their part at the cost of the disadvantage of the public, when its own measures on the tax on successions and the non-compliance with the lost subsidies of the EU really harm the agricultural community?
Many will say that it is better to be safe than sorry, but the question remains whether the ban is proportionate or even well targeted on probable sources of infection.
Find out more: The products that you cannot bring to Great Britain of the EU
More gourmet chorizo brought back from Spain for you. File peak: istock
A “advantage of Brexit”? Don’t be fooled
The EU has already introduced emergency measures to contain the disease where it was found. Several thousand cattle in Hungary and Slovenia have been vaccinated or destroyed.
The ability of the United Kingdom to impose the ban is not “an advantage of Brexit”. Member countries, including the United Kingdom, were perfectly able to ban the movement of animal and animal products during the epidemic of “mad cow disease” in the 1990s, to the great annoyance of the British government at the time.
Since the EU, England, Scotland and Wales are no longer under the veterinary regulation of the EU.
Northern Ireland is still due to its open border with the Republic. The last ban does not cover people coming to Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the island of Man.
Rather than introducing its own administrative formalities, the British government is supposed to seek a closer “alignment” on the EU on animal and vegetable trade – SPS or “sanitary and phytosanitary” measures in jargon.
A prohibition of cheese? That’s anything but cracking. Pic: Istock
The United Kingdom cannot shake links with the EU
The reasons are obvious and potentially do or break for food producers in this country.
The EU is a recipient of 67% of British agrifood exports, even if this has decreased by more than 5% from Brexit.
The introduction of complete and bulky SPS checks has been delayed five times but has to arrive in October. The government estimates that the cost for industry will be 330 million pounds sterling, according to food producers, it will be more like 2 billion pounds sterling.
With Brexit, the United Kingdom has become a “third country” for the EU, just like the United States or China or any other nation. However, the European Kingdom’s links with the European block are much more important.
Half of the United Kingdom imports come from the EU and 41% of its exports go there. The United States is the largest national trading partner in the United Kingdom, but still represent only about 17% of trade, in or outside.
The difference in statistics for travelers is even more striking – 77% of trips abroad from the United Kingdom, for business, leisure or personal reasons, are for EU countries. This represents 66.7 million visits per year, against 4.5 million or 5% in the United States.
And it was in 2023, before the words and hostile actions of Donald Trump and JD Vance withdraw foreign visitors.
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More bureaucratic distress
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and the EU make travel between them more annoying for their citizens and their businesses.
In October, the EES system or entry out of the EU should come into force. Each foreigner will have to provide biometric information – including fingerprints and analyzes – whenever he enters or leaves the Schengen region.
From October next year, visitors to countries whose United Kingdom will have to be authorized in advance by Etias, the European travel and authorization system. Applications will cost seven euros and will be valid for three years.
Since the beginning of this month, European visitors to the United Kingdom have been subject to similar reciprocal measures. They must request an ETA, an electronic travel authorization. It lasts two years or until an expires passport and costs £ 16.
The days of freedom of movement for people, goods and services between the United Kingdom and its neighbors have long been over.
The British economy has lost and the British citizens and companies suffer from greater bureaucratic disturbance.
Immigration in the United Kingdom is also not lowered since his departure from the EU. The figures have in fact increased, with people from the countries of the Commonwealth, including India, Pakistan and Nigeria, more than compensating for the citizens of the EU who came and came.
Publisher’s note: Maintaining my Focaccia sandwiches with Prosciutto! Pic: Istock
Will European reset be paying?
The government is rassly speaking of the possible advantages of a commercial “agreement” with Trump America.
Meanwhile, Minister Nick Thomas Symonds and the official Mike Ellam are engaged in low -profile negotiations with Europe – which could be much greater economic and social importance.
The public will have to wait to see what progress takes place at least until the very first UE-UK summit, which should take place on May 19 of this year.
British producers and food travelers hard in a hurry – not to mention young people who have been excluded from educational possibilities in Europe – cannot hope that Sir Keir Starmer considers their interests as positively as it sucks the Trump administration.