By Damian Cichero
It has been more than a month since Brexit took effect and the UK formally left the European Union.
As expected, most of the analyzes have been focused on the economic impact that the measure caused and will cause on both sides. However, there is an even more sensitive issue, which perhaps should receive more attention.
During the Brexit negotiations, one of the main objectives was to avoid a hard border that will reignite the historic conflict in Northern Ireland. Its origin dates back to 1541, when the King of England also became King of Ireland. But it was in 1801 when, through the Act of Union, the kingdom of Ireland was officially unified with the kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The majority of the Irish population, who were Catholic, never approved of this union and therefore, between 1919 and 1921, a war of independence was carried out against the pro-British Protestants. The conflict ended with the Anglo-Irish treaty, which established that Ireland was an independent state, although a portion of the island became Northern Ireland and continued to be part of the United Kingdom.
For a time, there was calm, but, beginning in the late 1970s, the British portion of the island was plunged into three decades of violence between the Catholic-Republican communities, who wanted the reunification of all of Ireland, and the Protestant-Unionist, who defended the British Crown.
Starting in 1970, with the appearance of the Provisional Republican Army (IRA), a campaign of attacks began. On the side of the unionist side, a paramilitary group also emerged, which led to material and ideological walls that separated both communities. In total, due to the numerous attacks, which led to the intervention of the English Government in Northern Ireland, more than 3,500 deaths were registered, among which we can highlight that of Lord Mountbatten, uncle of the current husband of Queen Elizabeth II. But it was thanks to the mediation of various politicians throughout history, among them Margaret Tatcher, who suffered an attack in her own flesh in 1984, that
On April 10, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, where Northern Ireland regained its autonomy with a coalition government between Catholics and Protestants.
The current conflict Returning to the present, during the lengthy negotiations, one of the main objectives of the British and European governments was to avoid a border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to try not to endanger the peace of the region. This was achieved thanks to the ‘Irish Protocol’, which keeps the borders open and allows Northern Ireland to remain part of the European bloc, even though the rest of the UK has left it.
To make this possible, a border was created in the Irish Sea and border controls were installed for trade between the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and its territory on the island of Ireland.
For a while, it seemed to work, but it was the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of sensitivity of the European Commission that have jeopardized the Good Friday agreements.
The problem began with the announcement by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that it would not deliver to the EU the prescribed units of its vaccines against Covid-19. Before the news, the authorities of the bloc began to suspect that Northern Ireland is the escape door for the doses to be sent to other parts of the world. For this reason, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EC, unilaterally notified, without consulting London and Dublin, that a regulation of restrictions on the export of drugs would be applied which, in turn, activated a clause of the Protocol that allowed the imposition of strict border controls between the two Ireland. Unsurprisingly, the reaction of both governments led Von der Leyen to reverse his decision, although the damage had already been done.
The unionists felt betrayed and that is why, in recent days, numerous threats were reported against port personnel in charge of carrying out customs controls on food and animals. Faced with the increase in tension, the British Government decided to suspend activities indefinitely. “All Border Post Staff are Targets”
(“All border crossing employees are targets”) could be read near the customs facilities. Although there was speculation with terrorist threats, Mark McEwan, deputy commissioner of the Northern Irish Police, assured that there was no information to confirm that the threats were made by any of the paramilitary organizations that tormented the population for years.
However, despite the announcement, many authorities explained that the tension continues to increase and could awaken nationalist and independence sentiments in the population. Bearing this in mind, the English Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is pressuring the European Union to renegotiate the pact, which was signed on Christmas Eve, just one week after Brexit took place.
“It is very unfortunate that the EU seems to question the Good Friday Agreement, the principles of the peace process, apparently asking for a border on the island of Ireland,” said Johnson, who threatens to suspend the Protocol if Brussels does not accept relax controls.
It was Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor, who tried, at all costs, to avoid the border in the Irish Sea, but the current Prime Minister had to accept it to reach a last-minute deal. Now, from London, aware of this error, they propose to extend until 2023 the temporary exemptions from controls. The opinion of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who has Irish descent and has publicly defended the Good Friday Accords, will be key in this matter.
The recklessness of the European Commission has given Johnson a chance to call for a renegotiation and, furthermore, possibly increase his popularity by blaming the EU for likely future incidents in the region. The IRA, the best known terrorist group there, abandoned its armed struggle in 2005. However, its ghost continued to be present in the streets of Belfast thanks to the graffiti, which remember the victims, on the old walls that still separate the two communities. and they recall that bloody time. Now, with the new tension, many fear that these specters will become reality and a new armed struggle will begin.
It was the selfish attitude of the EU that, trying to reinforce its integration, neglected the long-awaited multilateralism that it so much proclaimed and directly harmed an ally. It is true that, in the midst of a global pandemic, it is difficult to think of others. However, the United Kingdom, despite its differences, has been a long-standing partner of the EU and, beyond its current divorce, it is striking how little importance they have given to such a sensitive issue for the British. Now, it will be necessary to see who is more willing to give in, although Great Britain, a key player in World War II to defend Europe, is leading the moral aspect of the situation.
-Bachelor of International Relations
