Negotiators in the biggest conflict generated by Brexit advance on practical customs issues without waiting for an early agreement
The British Government has resigned to eliminate the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Northern Ireland, in the round of negotiations that London and Brussels have to solve the problems generated by the Protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement. The decision facilitates an understanding of the practical barriers to trade, which remains a difficult target.
Senior officials of the British administration involved in the negotiation affirm that the resignation is not final and that the problem of the Court will reappear, but the negotiators of the Commission have insisted that its mandate, defined by the Council of Heads of State and Government, it does not contemplate a modification of the court’s role as arbitrator in disputes affecting the common market.
Boris Johnson opted for a minimum treaty with the EU and that decision led to an agreement whereby Northern Ireland remains simultaneously in the EU customs union and in the UK market. To avoid the re-creation of customs between the south and north of the island, merchandise controls have been deployed between the northeast region and Great Britain.
The implementation of the Protocol has generated problems of access to anticancer drugs, for example, due to the clash of various regulatory powers. The two sides have made substantial progress in correcting that distortion, but British sources note that there are notable obstacles to reaching general agreement soon on other practical issues.
20% of all customs controls now carried out by the Union at its borders are carried out in Northern Ireland. The measures proposed by the Commission to reduce 50% of the current forms are not realistic, always according to British sources. It does not eliminate half of the paperwork but rather half of the questions that must be answered on the forms.
Article 16
Although the main unionist party in the region, the DUP, tends to be strident, moderate voices in the region are arguing that the implementation of the Protocol is breaking fundamental aspects of the 1998 peace agreement. The new constitutional settlement creates a shared government in the region. province and fosters relations between the north and the south and between the two islands.
Unionists see the Protocol as a barrier between their territory and the rest of the UK that violates Part Three of the Good Friday Agreement. Relations between Belfast and Dublin promoted in the second pillar have also deteriorated. These tensions coincide with the centenary of the division of the island and on the way to regional elections in May. The recreation of an Executive shared between unionists and nationalists without a consensus on the Protocol is doubtful.
Neither London nor Brussels would have endorsed the Protocol if they had known the problems it would create, according to British negotiators. The text gave its Article 16, the power to temporarily suspend aspects of the law if it causes, for example, trade deviation; it is already taking place in favor of the easier movement between the south and the north. In the British Government it is stated that, if the situation continues, it can invoke it, but in a limited and non-belligerent way.
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