MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) The recently unveiled Windsor Framework on the Northern Ireland border between the United Kingdom and the European Union demonstrates the more constructive approach to dealing with Brussels adopted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, experts told Sputnik.
On Monday, Sunak announced a "decisive breakthrough" in the negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London. The protocol is now going to be replaced by the newly agreed-upon framework in order to resolve the outstanding issues with the previous agreement, including the checks imposed on UK goods arriving in Northern Ireland.
This previous protocol, which is a part of the Brexit deal between the UK and the EU, has been a source of consternation for many Brexiteers who viewed it as establishing a de facto border between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain as well as undermining UK sovereignty by having the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as the final arbiter on Northern Ireland trade rules. At the same time, the issue has been causing tensions between London and Brussels, as the EU has been reluctant to introduce any changes to the original deal until now.
"It has been clear for some weeks that relations between London and Brussels have been recovering from the damage caused by Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. This is because Rishi Sunak takes a much more pragmatic approach to the situation, and both sides want a resolution to the question of the Northern Ireland border," Mark Garnett, senior lecturer at the department of politics, philosophy and religion at Lancaster University, said.
The new framework allows for the goods bound for Northern Ireland to avoid customs checks as well as introducing the so-called "Stormont brake" that supposedly allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to challenge new EU single market rules. At the same time, the ECJ will apparently still have the final word on EU regulations and single-market matters, according to von der Leyen.
Iain Begg, a professorial research fellow at the European Institute, London school of Economics and Political Science, described the Windsor Framework as reflecting "the more constructive tone adopted by Rishi Sunak, in contrast to the grandstanding of his predecessors."
"It is still facing some political objections, but Sunak can enact it if either or both of the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) in Northern Ireland or his own right wing MPs cause problems. It should be regarded as significant achievement and should go a long way to solving a very tricky problem � and should endure," Begg added.
The issue of Northern Ireland has been especially important since the tug-of-war over the post-Brexit trade arrangements has directly impacted the region's power-sharing arrangement between unionists and nationalists, as the pro-UK DUP refused to form a new government in May in protest against the protocol. With Sunak's new deal on the table, the ball is now in the unionist party's court.
"There are differing attitudes within the Democratic Unionist Party, and it will be difficult to persuade the party fully to endorse the agreement since it provides for a continuing role for the European Court of Justice � something which the DUP regards as an infringement of sovereignty. However, it's possible that the party could come to regard it as the best deal they are likely to get, allowing it to rejoin Northern Ireland's governing institutions," Garnett concluded.
Last year, the government of Boris Johnson introduced a bill unilaterally revising the provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol, arguing that the deal was not working. In response, the EU mounted legal action against London over the alleged violation of the Brexit deal. This remained a hot-button issue even after Johnson's departure from 10 Downing Street, as both Sunak and Liz Truss struggled to arrive at a conclusion that would assuage the protocol's critics at home without jeopardizing relations with Brussels as well as Washington, which also criticized London's efforts to override the protocol.
