British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday reached a “historic” agreement to relax provisions of the protocol for Northern Ireland agreed as part of the Brexit divorce settlements that London was refusing to comply with on the grounds of the complexity and high cost involved in implementing it.
“I am happy to report that we have taken a decisive step; together, we have changed the original protocol, and today we announce the new Windsor framework,” Sunak proclaimed at the start of the press conference held alongside Von der Leyen at the Windsor Palace.
The EU had among its red lines the reopening of the protocol, which it defends as non-negotiable, but it was willing to relax provisions to reduce bureaucracy and simplify its application, but always within the framework closed in the divorce agreements two years ago.
The British Prime Minister has also insisted that the agreed changes will allow “free-flowing trade” between the Northern Irish province and the rest of the UK and protect the “sovereignty” of Northern Ireland while guaranteeing that there will be no return to a “hard” border that would jeopardize the Good Friday peace accords.
Aware of the reservations in Northern Ireland about the agreement, Sunak also said that he will give “time and space” to the political parties and the public to examine and “digest” the terms of the new agreement, but is confident that he can then count on the necessary support to move it forward.
“I believe that what has been agreed today is historic,” said the head of the EU executive, who stressed that the agreement, in principle, protects the interests of the two markets and also establishes “strong safeguards” while making it clear that the Court of Justice of the EU will continue to have “the sole and final word” on issues affecting EU rules.
The fit for Northern Ireland in relations with the European Union not only means the end of this dispute but also paves the way for talks on another of the bangs that remain open between the British and Europeans since Brexit, the status of Gibraltar concerning the EU bloc.
After two years of disagreements between the European Union and the previous British governments to unblock this crisis, the relief taken by Sunak from Boris Johnson at the head of Downing Street at the end of last year allowed the rapprochement between London and Brussels and the reactivation of the negotiations to design “pragmatic solutions”.
The pact reached between Sunak and Von der Leyen still needs to pass the judgment of both the British Parliament and the EU bloc, although it remains to be seen how it will be processed.
In recent months, the European and British negotiators had resolved differences over the control of the transport of medicines or the exchange of information.
For the moment, the Prime Minister plans to appear before the House of Commons this Monday while, on the European side, the Vice-President of the Community Executive who has led the negotiations, Maros Sefcovic, is meeting with the ambassadors of the 27 in Brussels to inform them of the details of the latest talks and later the agreement will be analyzed in more depth by the technicians of the capitals.
With information from LGI