Due to the disruptions in trade between the province and the rest of the United Kingdom, London wants to renegotiate in depth the Northern Irish protocol concluded with the EU.
The British government is due to clarify its intentions Tuesday, May 17 regarding Northern Ireland, amid tensions with the European Union over post-Brexit controls which have caused a crisis in the province. Due to the political stalemate in Northern Ireland and the disruption in trade between the province and the rest of the United Kingdom, London wants to renegotiate in depth the Northern Irish protocol concluded with the European Union, which is only said ready for adjustments.
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Having raised the threat of unilateral action to circumvent the agreement, the British government must expose its « reasoning » Tuesday, according to Downing Street, through the voice of its head of diplomacy Liz Truss. According to the British press, this could take the form of a bill allowing the government to unilaterally suspend parts of the Northern Irish protocol by invoking its Article 16. A passage would take weeks and set the stage for a long period of crisis. between the EU and London but also in Northern Ireland.
For the EU, knowingly going back on this signed treaty would amount to violating international law, and the United Kingdom would expose itself to severe trade retaliation. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed the government does not want « to delete » the protocol but the « to fix ». He stated that he « would like » that the tensions are resolved “in a consensual manner with our friends and partners” of the EU, but added that the UK also needed « insurance » of one « legislative solution at the same time ». The Conservative leader was speaking during a visit to Northern Ireland on Monday, where he tried to convince the various political formations to find a compromise and to « go back to work ».
Acts »
Because eleven days after the historic victory of the Republicans of Sinn Fein in local elections, the Northern Irish institutions are at a standstill. Unionists in the DUP refused to participate in the local executive, which was supposed to be shared under the 1998 peace accord that ended three decades of bloody conflict known as the “Troubles”. And they blocked the local Assembly by refusing to designate a new candidate.
Viscerally attached to the union with Great Britain, the unionists thus intend to protest against the Northern Irish protocol, the agreement signed between London and Brussels to answer the delicate question of the border between British Northern Ireland and the European Republic of Ireland after Brexit. This text creates a de facto customs border with Great Britain and threatens, according to them, the place of the province within the United Kingdom.
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At the heart of the political standoff, the leader of the unionist DUP party, Jeffrey Donaldson is calling for « acts » of the British government to settle the problems affecting the Northern Irish economy and relations with Great Britain. “I want to see the government enact legislation that will provide the solution we need”, Jeffrey Donaldson said Monday. Sinn Fein Republicans strongly oppose a bill that would suspend parts of the protocol. “We told him directly that a unilateral bill in Westminster is wrong”Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said on Monday after a meeting she described as« quite difficult » with Boris Johnson.
Northern Ireland’s institutions had already experienced three years of paralysis, against the backdrop of a financial scandal, before an agreement allowed them to be restored to operation in January 2020. A neighbor of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, member of the EU, is worried about the consequences of a possible unilateral British decision. After a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Monday that the two men had “agreed that the only way to move the protocol forward is through substantive talks between the EU and the UK”. “Any unilateral action is harmful and cannot help” he tweeted.
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