Hello and welcome to another M-MLEX podcast. I'm Sam Wilkin, Brussels news editor, and today we're

going to talk about how Brexit is affecting the UK's relationship with the EU, even before it leaves.

We've already seen various impacts. The pound has fallen, the EU Banking Authority and

Medicines Agency agency are preparing to

leave London, and fewer EU workers are moving to the UK, creating a shortage of doctors and nurses.

But so far, the legal relationship hasn't changed, with the UK due to leave in March next year.

That could change, though, with a case being heard at the EU's top court concerning Britain's

use of the European arrest warrant.

Here to discuss it with me is our Brussels reporter Mike Acton who's been following the case.

Hello, Mike.

Hi.

Mike, what's this case all about and how could it change the legal relationship?

So the case concerns an Irish citizen called Raymond O'Neill.

He was arrested in Ireland in 2016 on the basis of

a European arrest warrant from the UK. He's wanted for some quite serious crimes, murder, rape,

and arson. There are two separate arrest warrants for him. And essentially what O'Neill's

lawyers are trying to argue, and indeed did argue in the Irish High Court, is that

the uncertainty over the UK's future legal relationship with the EU means that the

enforcement of the European arrest warrant cannot be assumed to be legal.

Okay, and that's interesting because in every other respect, Brexit negotiators have assumed that the UK will remain a member of the EU in every respect until the exact date when it leaves.

How are O'Neill's lawyers justifying their case to change that?

Well, in essence, they're looking at what the UK government's position is currently, and the UK government's

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