Call Windsor framework agreement Announced this Monday by the government of the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) reforming protocols for Northern Ireland, it addresses the main problems that this Brexit instrument has created in the British province. These are the main areas that improve in the new agreement, which pays special attention to governance, sovereignty, and trade in the region.
– free movement of goods
Since the entry into force of Brexit, the Protocol has kept Northern Ireland within the Community and the British internal market, which is why trade controls between the United Kingdom and the European Union are carried out at Northern Irish entry points, a construct is avoided. Does not harm the physical border between the two Irelands and the peace accords of Good Friday (1998). This commercial border, located in the Irish Sea, has also caused political problems among pro-British unionists, as they believe it affects their relations with the rest of the United Kingdom, and they have refused to form a government for a year. has been boycotted. Power was shared with the nationalists.
The settlement agreement now establishes a system of green and red lanes between Great Britain (Scotland, Wales, and England) and the province. Goods bound for Northern Ireland without regular checks must pass through the green lane – monitored electronically by the EC – while goods exported to the Republic of Ireland to enter the Community market will pass through the red lane, allowing the Northern Must to go through customs formalities. Irish Ports.
– Status of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom
The second element of the agreement concerned the application of certain Community laws and, as a result, certain British laws could not be applied to the region, which, according to unionists, jeopardized its constitutional ties with the United Kingdom. Due to this, for example, Northern Ireland and Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) impose different taxes such as VAT on products such as alcohol or renewable energy materials, as the province is governed by internal Community rules. The market, which had no access to state aid from London, was vetoed by Brussels to avoid unfair competition.
With the new agreement, the British government will be able to make “significant VAT changes”, as explained by Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who said it would now be able to revise tax rates on certain products, for example. Will be able With equal effect in all British territories.
Democratic deficit in Northern Ireland
It has been one of the most delicate issues in these talks, from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to the role of the Second Northern Irish Legion to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Will play in the state. The previous agreement, accepted by the former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, provided that Northern Ireland was governed by Community laws regarding the single market and that any disputes would be settled in the European courts, which was also met with hard-wing opposition. Was. Conservative Parties. It has also been a “red line” for Brussels, which understood that Northern Ireland’s access to the single market bound it by Community law and its arbitration bodies. Compromised solutions have been the application to such a system in, for example, Norway, which is outside the bloc but has access to the internal market.
As such, Brussels must inform London in advance of new regulations or directives affecting Northern Ireland, so that the British system has the option of studying and appealing them. The parties have decided that, before reaching the CJEU, any dispute may be examined in the first instance by the courts in Northern Ireland, which may then decide whether to refer it to Luxembourg, which always has the final say. The word will be The Windsor Framework Agreement also introduces the so-called “Stormont brake”, a new tool that would allow the Northern Irish Assembly to block the application of new community laws in the province. This “protection” would not only allow local politicians to have a say in the rules of the Single Community Market but would also prevent their application to British provinces. If this Stormont “brake” is activated, the British government will be able to veto the application of these new laws in Northern Ireland.
