One less problem for Rishi Sunak? After intense negotiations in recent weeks around the Northern Irish protocol, the British Prime Minister is due to meet in the middle of the day near London with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for “final discussions”, said Sunday evening Downing Street. At the end of the tunnel: the settlement of this post-Brexit dispute, the subject of negotiations for years.
The Northern Ireland Protocol, signed in January 2020, regulates the movement of goods between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland, which has the only land border with the European Union. It thus imposes customs controls between this British province and the rest of the United Kingdom on the arrival of goods in Northern Ireland.
This protocol wanted to avoid a land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland which would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998 after three bloody decades. It generated tension between the European Union and London but also became an internal problem for Rishi Sunak, who faced opposition from Brexit hardliners and Unionists in Belfast. The latter refuse any de facto application of European law in the British province and have blocked the functioning of the local executive for a year.
Sunak under pressure from Parliament
A few hours before the announcement of the meeting between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, a member of the eurosceptic wing of the Prime Minister’s party also warned that Parliament should not rush to accept an agreement. “Ignoring parliament usually ends badly,” said Mark François, president of the European Research Group, on Sky News.
If Rishi Sunak manages to agree on Monday with the boss of the Commission, he will in any case have to face his colleagues. On this file, he faces strong opposition from elected Conservatives, in particular his predecessor Boris Johnson, who rejected the protocol in 2022 two years after signing it.
While waiting for this new battle, Sunak will meet in the evening with his main ministers, including the Minister for Northern Ireland, to keep them informed of the day’s discussions, and if they allow an agreement, a press conference bringing together Sunak and von der Leyen is scheduled for late afternoon before the British Prime Minister heads to the House of Commons to brief MPs.