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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that he will present to Parliament a plan to make unilateral changes to the Northern Ireland protocol. This is the document that records the commercial rules for that province of the United Kingdom, after the country’s exit from the European Union. Brussels assures that London would thus violate international law and promises to respond with all the measures at its disposal.
The tension over Brexit does not end after more than two years after it became official. The UK is now set to table legislation in Parliament that would unilaterally change the Northern Ireland protocol.
The bill, promoted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, seeks to eliminate customs controls on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
That measure would annul parts of the trade agreement that London reached with the European Union in 2020, after the British territory formalized its exit from the bloc of 27 countries.
The Johnson Administration maintains that the changes will be “legal and correct”, but its position clashes with the provisions of the European Union and a large part of the parliamentarians of the Northern Ireland Assembly, who assure that this move would violate international law. .
Brussels promises to retaliate if the changes are ratified by the British legislature, raising the possibility of a trade war between the two sides.
What is the Northern Ireland protocol?
It refers to the system of rules that governs trade in Northern Ireland, the only UK province that shares a land border with a member country of the European Union: Ireland.
It was devised as a means of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, allowing the British province to remain in the EU’s single market.
Not implementing a strong border separation is above all a way of respecting the so-called Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement, signed in 1998 and which ended the bloody war.
Ireland’s open border and the rights of people on both sides to seek citizenship of their choice and to move freely between the two sides were central components of the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement.
With this context in mind, the negotiators designed a set of rules that would allow Northern Ireland to remain in the EU’s single market and that customs controls would not be at the borders but on goods being transported from the rest of the world. United Kingdom to Northern Ireland, because in case of leaving the British territory they entail another tax provision.
The trade limit is established in the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
In practice, this makes Northern Irish trade subject to many of the EU rules and not all of the British laws. In addition, all British people can go to Ireland without the need for visas or special permits and vice versa.
However, pro-British communities in Northern Ireland say current trade controls erode their connection to the rest of the UK.
What changes are expected?
Planned changes include the creation of a “green channel” for goods moving from the UK to Northern Ireland and destined to remain in the UK.
The new proposal would give British ministers the power to regulate state aid and customs procedures for trade from Northern Ireland to the UK.
British government ministers have also previously signaled that they want to stop allowing the European Court of Justice to be the sole arbiter of any dispute, arguing that British courts should have a role.
London argues that it wants to protect trade between the different countries of the British territory and have greater commercial sovereignty over its province.
Opposition to British intentions
On Monday June 13, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the bill “marks a particularly low point in the UK’s approach to Brexit”.
For his part, the Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, said that it is “very unfortunate that a country like the United Kingdom reneged on an international treaty.”
But the strong rejections not only come from the European Union, but also from the British region involved.
52 of the 90 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly signed a letter addressed to Boris Johnson in which they condemn the plan to alter the commercial rules agreed for that territory, after Brexit.
Lawmakers reject the prime minister’s arguments. They are “a fabrication,” they said of Johnson’s claims that he is trying to protect the province.
“It goes against the expressed wishes of not just most businesses but most people in Northern Ireland (…) The protocol also offers clear economic advantages to our region and the opportunity for unique access to two important markets. The fact that it has removed this advantage from companies in the United Kingdom does not justify doing the same with companies in Northern Ireland”, the parliamentarians stressed in the letter.
Johnson insists the bill is a “bureaucratic change” designed to unify Northern Ireland communities and protect the Good Friday Peace Agreement. He also dismisses that he violates international law.
“I do not agree with that. Why? Because I think our highest and previous legal commitment as a country is to the Belfast Good Friday agreement and to the stability balance of that agreement,” Johnson responded to local radio about the criticism.
A new pulse opens between Brussels and London after the first withdrawal of a country from the European Union.
With AP and local media
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