Surrounded by portraits of queens and kings, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced a new agreement on Monday to resolve political, legal and practical disputes in Northern Ireland over the which both called “a new chapter” in relations between the EU and the United Kingdom. They advertised it at Windsor Castle and insisted on describing it as “the Windsor frame”.
Why there are no tomatoes in British supermarkets: the cold and, once again, Brexit
Further
What is the “Windsor framework”?
A way of calling what is currently a hundred-page political agreement to make adjustments to the Northern Ireland protocol signed in 2020 as part of the United Kingdom’s exit agreement from the EU and which entered into force in 2021 Calling it a “framework” is a way of not giving up the protocol, which was hard to negotiate, and at the same time presenting it as something new. And choosing Windsor Castle has a symbolic weight for the British, especially for the most reluctant to this agreement, the tories most anti-Europeans and the most extreme unionists in Northern Ireland. Shortly after the meeting with Sunak, von der Leyen went to have tea with King Carlos III.
Why did the Northern Ireland protocol have to be adjusted?
The priority of not creating a hard physical border on the island of Ireland, between Ireland and Northern Ireland, to safeguard the 1998 peace agreements led to the paradox that a part of British territory is in practice within the single market with complications for its citizens and businessmen. This means there can now be checks and red tape between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to buy or travel with animals. For example, filling out an extra piece of paper to buy something online that goes from London to Belfast and having to get a community passport for dogs and cats. British supermarket chains complain that they cannot easily sell all their products in Northern Ireland.
And now that?
Under the new agreement, agricultural products, plants or animals will be registered in two ways to be considered as part of the “green” row, intended only for the relationship between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (i.e. England, Wales and Scotland), or in the “red” row for exchanges with Ireland and the rest of the EU. The drugs are no longer restricted by another adjustment to the protocol already approved, but the new agreement means that new medicines will not need to be approved by the EU regulatory agency and will be subject only to British labeling and regulations as long as there is no risk that they end up on the European market.
Where will the border be?
Sunak said that there will be “no feeling” that there is a border in the Irish Sea, but Northern Irish ports will be in charge of carrying out checks for goods destined for the EU. This also means that the UK government invests more in port facilities and online registries to share information effectively and as invisibly as possible with the EU.
And the taxes?
There will be new rules for VAT that will allow, for example, lower taxes than those of the EU to be applied if the United Kingdom so decides and there is no risk that these goods end up in the community market.
And who decides legal disputes?
Until now it was only the Court of Justice of the EU, which is in charge of ensuring free competition and the application of the rules. It will continue to exercise its jurisdiction because it is the only way that there is not a hard border on the island of Ireland, but, according to the new Windsor framework, the courts of Northern Ireland will be more involved and the European Justice will only enter if it is trade issues or clearly affecting the Community market. At the same time, both parties have pledged to keep informed about potential regulatory changes now that the UK and the EU may be drifting apart.
What is the Stormont Emergency Brake?
Stormont is the way of referring to the Parliament of Northern Ireland because the seat is in that area of Belfast. The assembly will have the possibility to invoke the veto if it understands that a new EU regulation is being applied in its territory and does not agree with it. For this, the signatures of 30 deputies from at least two different parties of the five in the assembly will be needed. This brake will be used “exceptionally” and as a “last resort”, according to the European Commission.
In any case, the British Government will have an extra role. If Northern Ireland decides not to apply a rule, the UK will notify the EU and its application will be suspended until the UK government and the European Commission mutually agree otherwise. If there is no agreement, the decision will go to a joint arbitration panel.
So the deal is already done?
No, in this Brexit there is always something more. To begin with, the legal adjustments need the approval of the EU governments, whose representatives in Brussels have learned the details of the agreement on Monday. The adjustments will go through the usual legislative process, in this case with three legislative proposals from the European Commission that will have to be approved by governments in the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
Community sources explained that the agreed changes will be approved “progressively” since it is not a single legal document: some adjustments will be approved “quickly” in a matter of “weeks” while others may take “more time”.
The most politically complicated part may be for Sunak, who has to convince the most conservative members of his party on one side – that although they are not enough to stop the agreement, they can mount a rebellion against him – and the most radical unionists on the other. of Northern Ireland from the DUP party. This party has been blocking the formation of a new government in Belfast since last year in protest of the protocol and has said it wants “time” to look into the details of the deal. The unionists may continue to think about it until after the local elections on May 18.
Will there be more concord between the EU and the UK?
As a first step, the United Kingdom will withdraw the legislation that Boris Johnson had presented to Parliament to bypass the protocol and the Commission will not continue with the file that it had opened to take the British Government to court.
Both Sunak and von der Leyen suggested that there will be more deals soon, for example with the inclusion of the UK in the EU’s Horizon Europe program which funds research projects and on which grants from scientists and academics depend. Another essential point pending from Brexit is now that of Gibraltar and the rules that apply at the border, although, according to the Spanish government, the agreement is close.
And in Northern Ireland?
The 1998 peace agreement is holding, but isolated incidents of violence continue and there is more tension around the 25th anniversary commemoration. Last week, an off-duty police officer was shot by a masked man at a sports center. Since then six people have been arrested and police are investigating the involvement of a terrorist group calling itself the New IRA. Sunak began the press conference by remembering the policeman, who is still in serious condition and hospitalized.
And what does Biden paint?
The White House is awaiting this pact with the EU before confirming the trip of the president of the United States to the United Kingdom and Ireland for the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement in which Bill Clinton also mediated. Biden, who is of Irish origin, has publicly shown his concern about the tension around the protocol.