London calls into question part of the Brexit Treaty which establishes a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
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After weeks of assumptions and rumors, the Johnson government goes to explicit threats. Liz Truss, the British Foreign Minister, confirmed in the House of Commons on Tuesday, May 17, that she would formally table “in the coming weeks” a bill unilaterally calling into question entire sections of the famous “protocol”. This crucial part of the Brexit Treaty with the European Union (EU) establishes a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, in order to protect the integrity of the European internal market while avoiding the return of a physical border on the island of Ireland.
“Our first choice is a negotiated solution [with Brussels], but discussions have been lasting for eighteen months. We can no longer wait, the situation in Northern Ireland is serious. The protocol does not work, it is rejected By the loyalist community [faithful to attachment to the United Kingdom], he weakened the peace treaty of the Good Friday [having ended, in 1998, to the civil war between loyalists and nationalists, in favor of a reunification of the island]. And it aggravates the cost of living crisis in Northern Ireland, “assured M me truss to the municipalities.
London is at the Abois: the DUP, the main loyalist party, refuses to participate in the North Irish executive before resulting from the legislative elections of May 5 as long as the protocol has not been abandoned – or largely amended. The loyalists claim that this arrangement signed by the EU and the Johnson government in 2019 slows down the economy of the little nation and constitutes an attack on their British identity. The nationalist party Sinn Fein, out of the winner of the elections, is impatient: it adapts perfectly to the protocol, but cannot appoint Prime Minister as long as the boycott of Dup.
The European Union does not does not want to renegotiate
The protocol modifications proposed by Liz Truss are very substantial. No more question of controlling goods arriving from Great Britain if they are intended to stay in Northern Ireland. London proposes to share with the EU its commercial data, to track down the goods which would still pass in the Republic of Ireland (member of the EU), and to impose penalties on offender companies. “Thus, the European internal market will be protected,” said the British minister. London also refuses the authority of the European Court of Justice over Northern Ireland. “The protocol is not engraved in marble,” added M me truss, and the modifications “do not constitute a violation of the country’s international commitments”.
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