On June 13, Britain announced plans to scrap part of an agreement it signed three years ago with the European Union (EU) on trade rules with Northern Ireland after Brexit (Brexit), risking a clash with Brussels, a rift with neighboring Ireland and tensions with the United States. the world media write.
Protecting the interests of the United Kingdom
Boris Johnson's government has announced plans to scrap parts of the deal it agreed with the EU in 2019, seeking to change the Northern Ireland Protocol to ease the flow of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the BBC points out.
The changes set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which will be debated and voted on by Parliament, the government claims are necessary to protect the essential interests of the United Kingdom (UK) such as maintaining peace in Northern Ireland and preserving the economic and social link between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The protocol, the British service explains, is part of the Brexit agreement that kept Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods and that prevents a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. However, the government in London said the protocol currently stands as a "barrier" to the formation of a new executive in Northern Ireland.
The three parties in Northern Ireland – Sinn Féin, the Alliance and the SDLP – believe that the protocol is necessary to mitigate the effects of Brexit in Northern Ireland. The protocol is opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won the second most seats in the recent Northern Ireland Assembly elections.
Unionists, adds the BBC, claim that the protocol creates a division that could lead to the breakup of the UK, and refuse to establish a new government in Northern Ireland with Sinn Fein, who won the most MPs in the election, until changes are made.
Companies importing goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland have, as the BBC points out, encountered difficulties with the protocol as checks and controls increase costs. However, many exporters have benefited because, unlike other parts of the UK, they have maintained seamless access to EU markets.
Possible legal action
The European Union could initiate legal proceedings against Britain for violating the terms of the Brexit agreement after Prime Minister Johnson introduced legislation to unilaterally limit Brussels' influence in Northern Ireland, The Times wrote.
If the UK parliament passes the bill, ministers could introduce changes in four areas of protocol, covering customs and food safety checks, the application of EU regulations, changes to VAT and the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Passing the law would abolish checks on most goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland. It would also allow companies in Northern Ireland to continue to sell and manufacture goods even if they do not comply with current or future EU regulations, and significantly limit the role of the ECJ in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Brussels after the bill was announced, EU Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčović said the EU was likely to reopen legal proceedings against Britain for breaching the terms of the agreement signed three years ago.
It is expected to be confirmed at a meeting of EU ambassadors on June 15 and could see Britain face potentially unlimited fines for failing to implement the protocol or the suspension of all or part of the wider trade deal.
Brussels, the Times emphasizes, will probably immediately suspend cooperation with Britain on all disputed bilateral issues, from fisheries to financial services, and stop British participation in the EUR 95 billion Horizon scientific cooperation program.
Threatening elements
The controversial draft law caused outrage among European diplomats, Irish MPs, and members of Johnson's Conservative Party, who believe that a unilateral reversal could trigger a trade war with the EU, the Washington Post wrote.
The British government is also afraid of the reaction of the White House and Congress, evaluates the paper and emphasizes that American politicians have repeatedly warned Johnson not to do anything that could undermine the peace in Northern Ireland. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has threatened that there will never be a trade deal with the US if the prime minister disrupts the 'status quo'.
The British Prime Minister's move was criticized by Irish and Scottish officials, but in Westminster some MPs from Johnson's Conservative Party expressed concern that it could reopen the Brexit debate. Critics say Johnson is pandering to extremist elements who threaten violence.
According to the Washington Post, although the changes in the protocol concern details of trade and paperwork, at a deeper level it is about the future of the United Kingdom and whether Northern Ireland will remain part of it or seek independence, as Scotland is announcing.
In question, the paper adds, is the Good Friday Agreement from 1998, which ended the 30-year civil conflict and erased the militarized border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The pact created a vague, dysfunctional but peaceful division of power in Belfast between unionists and republicans, pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Catholics.
Changing political landscape
Although the move by Prime Minister Johnson's government to end the post-Brexit trade arrangement risks conflict with the EU and upsetting relations with the US, it may be the most telling of the changed political landscape after Johnson survived a confidence vote among his Conservative Party MPs, writes The New York Times. Times).
Johnson faces a questionable path to passing the law through a parliament fueled by a rebellion against him, the paper said, adding that some Tory rebels are expected to oppose the bill on the grounds that it violates international law.
The British prime minister, the newspaper added, denied that the new law would violate international law because it would protect the Good Friday Agreement, while officials invoked the doctrine of necessity, which is a principle of international law that allows a state to temporarily ignore its obligations if faced with "serious and imminent danger".
However, the New York Times points out, many believe that the dispute, which despite having wide international repercussions for Britain, is mostly colored by domestic politics.
The prime minister, the paper adds, has accepted a more aggressive approach pushed by his foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who analysts say is seeking to strengthen relations with hard-line Brexiters in the party, as Johnson cannot afford to further antagonize his right wing.
"It's about the fight of the Tories who put the interests of one man before the interests of peace in Northern Ireland and the interests of our relations with the EU and the US," said Jonathan Powell, who was former prime minister Tony Blair's chief of staff.
"Old Tunes"
According to Boris Johnson, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill represents a "relatively trivial set of adjustments". There is, as always, a gap that separates the truth and the prime minister's dishonest claims, the Guardian assesses in its editorial comment.
The claim of the British government that with the draft law on the protocol of Northern Ireland it is trying to protect the Good Friday Agreement and that it wants to convince the dissatisfied Democratic Unionist Party to return to the process of forming the government in Northern Ireland is not sincere. In question, the paper points out, is the government's old assertion that it sought to force a hard Brexit by demanding a border in the Irish Sea.
Deeply weakened after last week's confidence vote and facing two imminent by-elections that could spark further rebellions, Johnson is hoping some of the "old tunes" can soothe and mollify his critics.
It is true that the revival of the Brexit divide, which once served Johnson so well, has been orchestrated to appease Eurosceptic hardliners in the Conservative Party, the Guardian editors conclude, adding that it nevertheless shows "how cornered and desperate the Prime Minister is".
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