- The Northern Ireland Parliament has been blocked since May by the DUP unionist party’s protest, which disagrees with the trade controls established by the European Union in Northern Ireland after Brexit, among others. The new agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union aims to avoid this limitation and to give the floor to Parliament on the laws laid down by Europe.
A further step was taken on Monday on the main issue that was hooked up after Brexit. The President of the UK Government, Rishi Suna, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have agreed an agreement to channel the trade flow of products passing through Northern Ireland. They called it the Windsor Framework Convention, where they met.
Jeffrey Donaldson, head of the DUP Unionist Democratic Party, has described the agreement as “a significant advance”, but has recalled that there are still “important keys that raise concern” to clarify and that they will need “time” to analyze the details. Sunak assured Tuesday at the Belfast press conference that he would give the DUP “time and space” to analyse the agreement. It trusts that the Unionist party will return to the Northern Ireland Assembly, as the agreement makes it possible to veto the laws of the European Union through the Stormont Brake. To do this, the Stormont Parliament (Northern Ireland), which since May 2022 has been boycotting the assembly for disagreement with the previous convention, must be unlocked.
Boundary in the Irish Sea
The cause causes an imbalance in Northern Ireland's policy, as the DUP has the Stormont Assembly blocked. Goods controls and the United Kingdom’s “internal border” are being denounced, and the European Court of Justice’s permanent intervention in Northern Ireland is being held. The problem is that, according to the agreement agreed by Boris Johnson, Northern Ireland has not left the European Union single market, although Brexita has materialised. This meant that there were no trade borders with the Republic of Ireland, which is in the European Union, but that a “maritime border” was created with Britain. There are many controls for product flow.
Sunak hopes that the unionist party will return to the Northern Ireland Assembly, as the agreement allows EU laws to implement vetoes through the "Stormont Brake"
Through the Windsor Convention “there will be no sense of border in the Irish Sea”, according to Prime Minister Sunak. The solution is to transport products, plants and animals in two ways. The Green Way will be the contact route between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, goods will not have to pass control, but the European Union will receive electronic information. The Red Way, for its part, will be intended for products going to the Republic of Ireland or the European Union, and should be subject to greater control and bureaucracy in the ports of Northern Ireland.
Stormont Brake
Sunak, DUP unionist, uses the so-called “Stormont Brake” to approach the agreement. The agreement adds that the Northern Ireland Assembly will theoretically be able to veto the new single market laws of the European Union, if it observes that they are being implemented in Northern Ireland and that they affect relations with Britain. In practice, however, the European Court of Justice will have the last word.
The Windsor Convention will not be implemented overnight. All governments have to approve their decisions in the European Parliament, and then they will “progressively” introduce changes to the law, as they have advanced.
In addition, Sunak should support the agreement between the most conservative parties in his party and the unionists in Northern Ireland, although he implied in an interview that he would even go ahead without support, according to The Guardian.