UK and EU reach agreement on Northern Ireland protocol

The European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom finally reached an agreement on the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol, as reported by British government sources on Monday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are meeting in Windsor, near London, for what they say are the “final” discussions of this dossier.

Later, they are scheduled to offer a joint press conference in Windsor, the city west of London. The head of the European Commission will also meet King Carlos III.

What is the protocol?

The Northern Irish protocol, signed in January 2020, is the main issue of contention between London and Brussels three years after the United Kingdom left the European Union.

This text regulates the movement of goods between the rest of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the only land border with the European Union.

The protocol was intended to prevent a land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland from undermining the peace agreed in 1998 after three bloody decades, while protecting the single European market.

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But it raises practical problems by imposing customs controls on goods from Britain arriving in Northern Ireland, even if they remain in the British province.

The protocol has generated tensions between the EU and the UK, but it has also become an internal problem for Rishi Sunak, which faces opposition from staunch Brexit supporters and from unionists in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who oppose any questioning of Northern Ireland’s membership of the United Kingdom.

The latter reject any de facto application of European legislation in the British province and have blocked the functioning of the local executive for a year.

The new proposal

According to the media, the negotiated agreement establishes a system of green and red lanes between Great Britain and the province.

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Goods destined for Northern Ireland would go through the green lane without routine controls, while those exported to the Republic of Ireland -in the EU- would go through the red lanes, for which reason they would undergo customs procedures in Northern Irish ports.

In addition, the European Court of Justice would remain as the final arbitrator in the event of a dispute over the single market rules that apply in Northern Ireland, something unionists opposed.

To appease unionists, London last spring threatened to withdraw unilaterally from the deal, sparking anger in Dublin and Brussels, which raised the specter of a trade war.

Sunak is scheduled to meet with his top ministers before the press conference with von der Leyen in mid-afternoon.

Subsequently, the British Prime Minister will return to London to address the deputies in the House of Commons.

AFP AND EFE