The agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU to reform the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol seems imminent. The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, will receive the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in London tomorrow to try to advance in person the negotiations and seal a pact for the final settlement of this region, a regime negotiated as part of Brexit but that the British government has refused to apply for two years.
Negotiations have accelerated in recent weeks, but Sunak had to overcome the reluctance of the Northern Ireland authorities and the hardest wing of his party, spurred on by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was precisely the one who sealed the agreement and then he tried to rectify it unilaterally.
Sunak has worked hard to reach a consensus and from today’s announcement it appears that he has succeeded. In a joint statement, the European Commission and the British Government have informed of von der Leyen’s trip to “continue working in person.” The objective is “to achieve shared and practical solutions to the range of complex challenges related to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland”, explained Brussels.
From London, the British Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, assured, in an interview with ‘Sky News’, that they are “on the verge of an agreement” and that “it is a matter of days, not weeks”. He also advanced that, according to the negotiated terms, the role of the European Court of Justice “will be significantly limited” to resolve possible disputes between the United Kingdom and the EU, one of the main demands of the unionists.
The Protocol for Northern Ireland, agreed in 2020 in the framework of Brexit, has never worked well. Its primary objective was to avoid a physical border between the two Irelands and for this purpose customs controls were established at the entry points of Ulster. The idea now is to reduce bureaucratic obstacles and establish a ‘green lane’ for British products that stay in Northern Ireland and another ‘red lane’, with greater supervision, for those traveling to Ireland or the rest of the European Union. .
Despite the fact that this agreement meets the main demands of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), an internal rebellion is expected in the Conservative Party. We will have to see how Sunak resists, who is going through a difficult time due to inflation and widespread discontent.