(new: more details and background)
WINDSOR/BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) – With a new agreement, the EU and Great Britain have settled the years-long dispute over the Brexit regulations for Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the agreement on Monday after a meeting in Windsor, west of London. They outdid each other with praise for the cooperation and the result achieved. This is “historic”, said the head of the EU Commission. Both stressed that this was a “new chapter” in EU-UK relations.
It is eagerly awaited whether the Northern Ireland Protestant party DUP will accept the agreement. In protest against the regulation, the DUP has been blocking the formation of a regional government in Northern Ireland for months. It is now under pressure to give up its political deadlock. This and the reaction of the Brexit hardliners in his own party will probably depend on whether Sunak has the political room for maneuver to push it through. His predecessors Theresa May and Liz Truss and ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson had not been able to put an end to the dispute. He wanted to present the agreement in the lower house that evening.
Specifically, it is about the implementation of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which was negotiated as part of the Brexit Treaty. It stipulates that the customs border between Great Britain and the EU runs in the Irish Sea. This is to prevent border controls between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland having to be introduced. Otherwise it was expected that the conflict about unifying the two parts of Ireland would flare up again.
But the controls also caused difficulties in intra-British trade. Union Protestant supporters in Northern Ireland feel cut off from Britain. London therefore wanted to renegotiate the contract.
The new agreement provides that trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will run smoothly in the future, Sunak said on Monday. A border will no longer be noticeable, said the prime minister. For goods destined for Northern Ireland, there should be a “green lane”, similar to the green “No Duty To Declare” exit at the airport. In addition, the Northern Irish Parliament should have a say on whether new EU regulations should apply to the province.
The dispute had put a strain on relations between London and Brussels, but also on relations between London and Berlin. A meeting with King Charles was also on the agenda for von der Leyen./swe/DP/jha