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European Court of Justice could make changes to UK's post-Brexit trade deal, top judge says

Top court: European Court of Justice president Koen Lenaerts poses inside the main courtroom in Luxembourg: REUTERS
Top court: European Court of Justice president Koen Lenaerts poses inside the main courtroom in Luxembourg: REUTERS

The EU’s top law court could have the power to make changes to the post-Brexit trade deal, the court’s most senior judge has said.

The president of the European Court of Justice said on Wednesday that the court could be called in to review parts of the Brexit talks.

Prime Minister Theresa May said last October that a top priority in Brexit negotiations was to removing the UK from the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

But ECJ President Koen Lenaerts said today it was likely, before the UK leaves the EU, that one party or another in the two-year negotiation will end up seeking the arbitration of the Luxembourg-based court on various subjects.

He told the Reuters news agency that even "a lawyer with the wildest imagination" would not be able to anticipate precisely how the court would become involved in the Brexit debate.

A protester waves an EU flag outside the Supreme Court on the day of the Brexit ruling earlier this month. (PA)
A protester waves an EU flag outside the Supreme Court on the day of the Brexit ruling earlier this month. (PA)

But he added: "It probably will, one day or another, end up on the docket of the court - not because of the court, but because of parties bringing the case."

Prof Lenaerts denied that the court would take political sides on behalf of the EU, insisting: "We are not pro-union, we are not against union. We are pro-law. The law is made by the political process."

A Downing Street spokesman noted that the judge had said only that Brexit could end up at the ECJ, not that it certainly would.

"Clearly, where we are going to be in two-and-a-bit years' time as a result of negotiations is impossible to predict the outcome of now," said the spokesman.

"But we have been clear that leaving the EU involves leaving the jurisdiction of the ECJ."

Britain’s exit of the EU has already encountered legal issues in the UK, after campaigners took the case of triggering of Article 50 to the High Court and later the Supreme Court following a government appeal.