European Court of Justice will meddle in the final Brexit deal even if the UK leaves its jurisdiction, warns its most senior judge
ECJ president Koen Lenaerts sets himself on collision course with Theresa May - who wants rid of Luxembourg body
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice will meddle in the final Brexit deal even if the UK removes itself from its jurisdiction, the institution's most senior judge has said.
The terms of the agreement by which Britain withdraws from the EU will probably come under a review by the Luxembourg body, which may ultimately amend the terms, said the ECJ president Koen Lenaerts.
In an interview he said it was likely that, before the UK leaves, one party or another in the two-year negotiating process will end up seeking the arbitration of his court on one of the many contentious subjects involved.
Prof Lenaerts 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.
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."
The ECJ cannot act on its own initiative and it was impossible to foretell what aspects of Brexit might be referred to it by national courts via cases raised by various parties.
But asked if such a momentous EU political crisis was likely to end up at the Luxembourg-based court, the Belgian jurist said: "Yes, it is."
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The comments will set himself on a collision course with Downing Street, after Theresa May made clear in a speech to the Conservative conference in October a key priority in Brexit negotiations will be to take the UK out of the jurisdiction of the ECJ.
She said: “Leaving the European Union will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
“And those laws will be interpreted by judges not in Luxembourg but in courts across this country.”
But Prof Lenaerts denied 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."