Czech Budweiser brewer worries about Brexit impact

The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit.

The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, though it won't say exactly how much beer it sends there. Like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade.

That exit is due to happen on March 29, though with political wrangling still very much underway, a delay looks likely.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker loads a truck with cases of beer at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

That's meant worrying uncertainty for businesses like Budvar that rely on being able to send their goods to Britain without inspection delays at borders.

The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit.

The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, though it won't say exactly how much beer it sends there. Like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019,a worker carries a case of beer at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

That exit is due to happen on March 29, though with political wrangling still very much underway, a delay looks likely.

That's meant worrying uncertainty for businesses like Budvar that rely on being able to send their goods to Britain without inspection delays at borders.

"It's about two weeks to Brexit and nobody knows anything," said Budvar director Petr Dvorak. "We're now waiting for what happens because it's going to be uncertain till the last moment."

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Budvar's business has been growing — it increased exports by 8.5 percent to reach 1.075 million hectoliters (28.4 million gallons) last year. The brewer reached its production capacity in recent years and has been expanding to be able to produce more.

Still, a loss of UK business would be a blow, Dvorak said.

"It might threaten our positions in bars and restaurants if we're not able to supply the market in the long term," he said.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker checks beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Budvar is also among the major Czech brewers that in recent years started to deliver beer in tanks in an effort to keep it fresher. That unpasteurized beer expires after 21 days, meaning big problems if trucks get stuck at customs posts can't get it to the UK in a timely fashion.

"The last thing we need for our beer is to get stuck somewhere on the border," Dvorak said.

Among the few things Budvar can do is to stockpile as much beer as possible in Britain in hopes that a deal will be reached soon. But that's a short term solution that works only for beer in barrels, bottles and cans.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Budejovicky Budvar and U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch have been in a trademark dispute over the Budweiser brand since 1906. Anheuser-Busch joined AB InBev in 2008.

Budejovicky Budvar holds exclusive rights to sell Budweiser beer in most major European markets, including Germany. But in the UK, both Budvar and AB InBev can sell Budweiser after a court ruled that consumers can tell the difference between the two. AB InBev is significantly bigger.

Brexit won't change anything about that arrangement. So might British customers start drinking American Budweiser if they can't get Budvar after Brexit? Dvorak thinks the two beers are different enough that they won't.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker walks past beer boiling cans at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

"In the meantime, we can only hope that the British government has a plan because it is, of course, in the interest of the British government to allow free trade," he said.

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker adds hops into a beer boiling can at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker checks a hopped wort at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, Budvar director Petr Dvorak smiles during an interview at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, udvar director Petr Dvorak poses for a photo by a beer boiling can at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, and like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations endorsed sweeping reforms to the bloc’s failed asylum system on Tuesday as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue.

EU government ministers approved 10 legislative parts of The New Pact on Migration and Asylum. It lays out rules for the 27 member countries to handle people trying to enter without authorization, from how to screen them to establish whether they qualify for protection to deporting them if they’re not allowed to stay.

Hungary and Poland, which have long opposed any obligation for countries to host migrants or pay for their upkeep, voted against the package but were unable to block it.

Mainstream political parties believe the pact resolves the issues that have divided member nations since well over 1 million migrants swept into Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. They hope the system will starve the far right of vote-winning oxygen in the June 6-9 elections.

However, the vast reform package will only enter force in 2026, bringing no immediate fix to an issue that has fueled one of the EU’s biggest political crises, dividing nations over who should take responsibility for migrants when they arrive and whether other countries should be obligated to help.

Critics say the pact will let nations detain migrants at borders and fingerprint children. They say it’s aimed at keeping people out and infringes on their right to claim asylum. Many fear it will result in more unscrupulous deals with poorer countries that people leave or cross to get to Europe.

Europe’s asylum laws have not been updated for about two decades. The system frayed and then fell apart in 2015. It was based on the premise that migrants should be processed, given asylum or deported in the country they first enter. Greece, Italy and Malta were left to shoulder most of the financial burden and deal with public discontent. Since then, the ID-check-free zone known as the Schengen Area has expanded to 27 countries, 23 of them EU members. It means that more than 400 million Europeans and visitors, including refugees, are able to move without showing travel documents.

Some 3.5 million migrants arrived legally in Europe in 2023. Around 1 million others were on EU territory without permission. Of the latter, most were people who entered normally via airports and ports with visas but didn’t go home when they expired. The pact applies to the remaining minority, estimated at around 300,000 migrants last year. They are people caught crossing an external EU border without permission, such as those reaching the shores of Greece, Italy or Spain via the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean on boats provided by smugglers.

The country on whose territory people land will screen them at or near the border. This involves identity and other checks -– including on children as young as 6. The information will be stored on a massive new database, Eurodac. This screening should determine whether a person might pose a health or security risk and their chances of being permitted to stay. Generally, people fleeing conflict, persecution or violence qualify for asylum. Those looking for jobs are likely to be refused entry. Screening is mandatory and should take no longer than seven days. It should lead to one of two things: an application for international protection, like asylum, or deportation to their home country.

People seeking asylum must apply in the EU nation they first enter and stay until the authorities there work out what country should handle their application. It could be that they have family, cultural or other links somewhere else, making it more logical for them to be moved. The border procedure should be done in 12 weeks, including time for one legal appeal if their application is rejected. It could be extended by eight weeks in times of mass movements of people. Procedures could be faster for applicants from countries whose citizens are not often granted asylum. Critics say this undermines asylum law because applicants should be assessed individually, not based on nationality. People would stay in “reception centers” while it happens, with access to health care and education. Those rejected would receive a deportation order.

To speed things up, a deportation order is supposed to be issued automatically when an asylum request is refused. A new 12-week period is foreseen to complete this process. The authorities may detain people throughout. The EU’s border and coast guard agency would help organize joint deportation flights. Currently, less than one in three people issued with an order to leave are deported. This is often due to a lack of cooperation from the countries these people come from.

The new rules oblige countries to help an EU partner under migratory pressure. Support is mandatory, but flexible. Nations can relocate asylum applicants to their territory or choose some other form of assistance. This could be financial -– a relocation is evaluated at 20,000 euros ($21,462) per person -– technical or logistical. Members can also assume responsibility for deporting people from the partner country in trouble.

Two issues stand out: Will member countries ever fully enact the plan, and will the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, enforce the new rules when it has chosen not to apply the ones already in place? The commission is due to present a Common Implementation Plan by June. It charts a path and timeline to get the pact working over the next two years, with targets that the EU and member countries should reach. Things could get off to a rocky start. Hungary, which has vehemently opposed the reforms, takes over the EU’s agenda-setting presidency for six months on July 1.

Associated Press journalists Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

Migrants sit on the deck of the Sea Watch-3 rescue ship in the Maltese search and rescue zone of the Mediterranean Sea on Oct. 19, 2021. IEuropean Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Valeria Mongelli, File)

FILE - Migrants disembark from a Greek coast vessel after a rescue operation, at the port of Mytilene, on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas, File)

FILE - Two men share a meal in a makeshift tent camp outside the Petit Chateau reception center in Brussels, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

FILE -Migrants rest on the deck of Sea Watch-3 rescue ship in Maltese SAR zone, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Valeria Mongelli, File)

FILE - A cemetery, filled with graves mostly from migrants trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, is seen from above at Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas, File)

FILE - Opponents of France's immigration law protest with banners that read, "Freedom, equality, fraternity" and "no to the immigration law" at Trocadero Plaza near Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)

FILE - Refugees wait in line at the Office of Migration in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

FILE - Migrants aboard a rubber boat end up in the water while others cling on to a centifloat before being rescued by a team of the Sea Watch-3, around 35 miles away from Libya, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. European Union nations will discuss on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, sweeping new reforms to the bloc's failed asylum system as campaigning for Europe-wide elections next month gathers pace, with migration expected to be an important issue. (AP Photo/Valeria Mongelli, File)