British MPs give first go-ahead to reform of Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit protocol

British deputies adopted on Monday in first reading a controversial bill with which the United Kingdom seeks to free itself from post-Brexit customs provisions in North Irelandwhich the European Union considers illegal and has already begun to fight back.

The reform was adopted in the House of Commons by 295 votes in favor against 221 after a debate that began in the afternoon. The project must now continue its parliamentary process until final adoption.

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“There are useless barriers to trade from Britain to Northern Ireland, and all we’re saying is that we can end them without in any way threatening the single European market.”declared Boris Johnson from Germany, where he was participating in a summit of G7 leaders.

The prime minister askedflexibility” to European Union that, since he learned of the intentions of the British government, he has not stopped denouncing a unilateral action and threatened to take commercial reprisals.

Citing the burden of controls – the application of which has been repeatedly postponed – for businesses and the need to keep the peace, London decided to legislate after months of unsuccessful negotiations with Brussels. It also hopes to end the paralysis of local Northern Irish institutions.

Time is pressing according to the British government, since the unionists of the DUP, who see in the Northern Ireland protocol – negotiated and signed within the framework of Brexit – a threat to the place of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom, refuse to participate in the assembly and the executive of the province as long as the controls are not abandoned.

The institutions cannot function without them due to the co-governance provided for by the 1998 peace agreement, which ended three decades of violence that left 3,500 dead.

The victory in the local elections at the beginning of May of the republicans of Sinn Fein, in favor of the reunification of the island, accentuated the fears of the DUP.

Infringement procedure

In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated London’s position that the Northern Ireland protocol “would undermine” the “delicate balance” of the Good Friday agreement, which sealed peace between loyalists to the British crown and Republicans in favor of reunification.

the bill “It will solve the problems that the protocol has created, ensuring that goods can move within the UK, while avoiding a hard border and protecting the European single market.“, held.

Ensuring London’s preference for a negotiated solution, the head of British diplomacy considered that the European refusal to review the protocol meant that the United Kingdom was “obliged” to act out.

But for Europeans, the British text is “both illegal and unreal”said on Sunday the ambassador of the European Union in the United Kingdom, João Vale de Almeida.

“We are committed to finding practical solutions” on the application of the protocol, continued on Sky News, “But we can’t begin to talk if the basis is to say that everything we agreed on before should be scrapped.”

Former British Prime Minister Theresa May, who resigned when Parliament failed to back her Brexit divorce deal, agreed that the text is “illegal” Y “You will not achieve your goals.”

And Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin warned that “Any unilateral decision to violate international law is a major and serious move.”

According to the British project, the goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland, and therefore within the British market, would benefit from a channel “green” that would avoid the controls.

A channel “red” would be for goods that could enter the market of the European Union via Ireland, which would have to be declared, while the checks would be carried out in Great Britain.

After the presentation of the British bill, the European Union announced the relaunch of an infringement procedure, suspended since September 2021, for violation of the protocol, as well as the launch of two others, for breach of the “necessary checks” in sanitary and phytosanitary matters and for incomplete commercial data given to the European Union.

He also presented in greater detail his proposals made, in vain, to the British government last October, which according to the European Union They made it possible to considerably reduce customs controls and formalities on a wide range of goods destined solely for Northern Ireland.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.