(London) A summit meeting between London and Brussels is scheduled for Monday on the Northern Irish protocol, giving hope for a settlement of this post-Brexit dispute, the subject of negotiations for years.
After intense negotiations in recent weeks, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the middle of the day near London for “final discussions”, Downing Street said on Sunday evening.
Mr. Sunak will then meet with his main ministers, including the Minister for Northern Ireland, to keep them informed of these discussions, and if they allow an agreement, a press conference bringing together Mr. Sunak and Mr.me von der Leyen is scheduled for late afternoon before the British prime minister heads to the House of Commons to brief MPs.
The Northern Ireland Protocol, signed in January 2020, regulates the movement of goods between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland, which has the only land border with the European Union.
It thus imposes customs controls between this British province and the rest of the United Kingdom on the arrival of goods in Northern Ireland.
This protocol wanted to avoid a land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland which would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998 after three bloody decades.
It generated tension between the European Union and London but also became an internal problem for Rishi Sunak, who faced opposition from Brexit hardliners and Unionists in Belfast. The latter refuse any de facto application of European law in the British province and have blocked the functioning of the local executive for a year.
The arrival in October in Downing Street of Rishi Sunak, yet a Brexiter from the start, brought relief. “Over the past few months, hundreds of hours of discussions” have taken place, according to Downing Street.
“Unfinished Brexit”
Again on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak explained that he was “continuing to fight” to obtain concessions from the EU.
Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper, he appealed to his divided party on Sunday, saying the deal being discussed is not a threat to Brexit but is about “making sure Brexit works in every part of the world”. United Kingdom “. “The work on Brexit remains unfinished and I want the work done,” he said.
If Rishi Sunak manages to agree on Monday with Ursula Von der Leyen, he will still have to face his colleagues. On this issue, he faces strong opposition from elected Conservatives, in particular his predecessor Boris Johnson, who rejected the protocol in 2022 two years after signing it.
The meeting between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen will take place in Berkshire where the city of Windsor is located, west of London.
One of the residences of King Charles III is in Windsor. British media said that Mr. Sunak considered the possibility of calling “Windsor agreement” any text modifying the application of the Northern Irish protocol.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Twitter that he was in contact with Ursula Von der Leyer on Sunday. “We must acknowledge the level of engagement between the UK government, the European Commission and the parties in Northern Ireland over the past few months,” he wrote.
Northern Irish protocol in a nutshell
PHOTO CLODAGH KILCOYNE, REUTERS
The Northern Irish Parliament in Belfast
What is this protocol?
The protocol was created to meet a dual objective: to protect the integrity of the European single market and to avoid a land border that would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998.
Northern Ireland has indeed been bruised by three bloody decades opposing Unionists, mainly Protestants, attached to the maintenance of the province within the United Kingdom, and Republicans, mainly Catholics, supporters of reunification with the Republic of Ireland. .
What is its principle?
Rather than carrying out formalities only at the land border between the United Kingdom and the EU at the risk of rekindling tensions, the protocol provides that checks on goods coming from Great Britain, the other side of the Irish Sea, take place on arrival in Northern Ireland.
The text effectively maintains Northern Ireland in the common market and customs union of the European Union.
What are the difficulties?
The Northern Irish protocol is held responsible for supply difficulties in Northern Ireland and presented on the British side as a threat to the so-called Good Friday peace agreement, in particular after the violence which broke out in April 2021 in Belfast, causing 88 injured in the ranks of the police.
Some companies denounce excessive formalities, others, on the other hand, are happy to maintain access to the gigantic European market.
However, it was never fully implemented as grace periods on controls were introduced and extended for products such as non-frozen meat or medicines.
It has led to a paralysis of institutions in Northern Ireland, with Unionists from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) hostile to the deal refusing to join the local executive with Republicans Sinn Fein – big winner of the local elections in May – under of power sharing, as long as controls are not abandoned.