Fears of UK-EU trade war over Ireland protocol
Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, Belfast
It was supposed to ensure seamless post-Brexit trade between the UK and the EU, instead the Northern Ireland Protocol is now in danger of falling apart, and with it, peace on the island.
The most recent reason, the outcome of the recent elections in Northern Ireland. The Republican Party Sinn Fein, came top for the first time ever. The country has a system of power sharing between republicans who want Northern Ireland in the republic of Ireland and unionists, who want it to remain in the UK. And the second largest party in these elections, the Democratic Unionist Party never accepted the protocol.
This is the Irish Sea border for trade enshrined in the Northern Ireland Protocol aimed at avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Unionists want the protocol scrapped, West Minister now says it’s prepared to make changes to it but to the EU, that is anathema.
The Unionists say they’re not entering into government with Sinn Fein if the protocol isn’t resolved, and the EU says renegotiating an international agreement such as the protocol is simply not acceptable.
It is a difficult self-inflicted conundrum for the UK government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a visit to Belfast trying to break the impasse. On the one hand he has to satisfy the Unionists to protect power-sharing and that 1998 peace deal that put an end to decades of sectarian violence between the republicans and unionists in Northern Ireland, and on the other, avoid a trade war with the European Union.
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