This could well trigger a conflict on a European scale. The British government formally presented its bill on Monday, June 13, which unilaterally calls into question the post-Brexit customs status of Northern Ireland.
After threatening to purely and simply override this international treaty which it negotiated and signed, the government of Boris Johnson has chosen to legislate to modify it unilaterally. London believes it can no longer wait given the political paralysis caused by the Northern Irish protocol in the British province. The government hopes that the goods circulating and remaining within the United Kingdom pass through a « canal vert »freeing them from administrative procedures.
“We are very clear that we are acting in a legal manner”, nevertheless assured the head of diplomacy Liz Truss on television. If adopted, which could take months, the text “will end this untenable situation where the people of Northern Ireland are treated differently from the rest of the UK, will protect the supremacy of our courts and our territorial integrity”she explained in a press release, defending a “reasonable solution”.
unionist anger
If the text has not been fully applied, it complicates supplies and horrifies the Unionist community, which believes that the place of the province within the United Kingdom is threatened. While the main unionist party, the DUP, has been blocking the formation of any local executive for several months, the London government announced in mid-May its desire to legislate.
According to the bill, the province will be able to benefit from the same state aid as the rest of the United Kingdom and disputes will be settled before an independent arbitration mechanism and no longer before the European Court of Justice, a major point of contention between London and Brussels.
In a joint letter, elected officials from parties representing the majority of the Local Assembly (including Sinn Fein) said “reject in the strongest possible terms” UK law. For them, “if not ideal, the protocol is the only protection available” against the effects of Brexit but also “economic advantage” with “access to two major markets”.
“Frankly it’s a pretty trivial series of adjustments”relativized Boris Johnson on LBC radio, assuring that the project was legal. “Our primary commitment as a country is to the Good Friday Agreement”signed in 1998 to put an end to three decades of violence between Unionists, especially Protestants, and Republicans, with a Catholic majority, killing 3,500 people.
EU and US call for further negotiations
Unsurprisingly, this decision sparked the ire of the European Union, which said it regretted “a unilateral action undermining mutual trust”. The President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic assured that the EU had proposed « solutions ».
Finally, she threatened the British government with legal action and in particular mentioned the prospect of initiating new actions and resuming an infringement procedure launched against London in March 2021. This could lead to a seizure of justice. European.
Across the Atlantic also, the decision worries. In a phone call, the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken asked his British counterpart to “continue negotiations in good faith” with the European Union in order to find a ” solution which preserves the achievements of the Good Friday agreement”.