It has been two years since Northern Ireland had no government, following the withdrawal of the main unionist party from local institutions. The DUP, a staunch defender of keeping Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the government in London on post-Brexit trade rules, paving the way for its return to the government of Belfast.
After months of negotiations with the British government and following an internal vote, “the result was clear, I was mandated to move forward”, declared the leader of the party, Jeffrey Donaldson, to journalists present in Lisburn, near Belfast, where the DUP had met. The recovery of local institutions and the return of the DUP to the government shared with the Republicans will depend on the vote scheduled for Thursday on a bill in London.
The parliamentary assembly at Stormont, in Belfast, should meet immediately, then the two main parties, unionist and republican, form a government. For the first time, the Northern Irish Prime Minister will come from Sinn Fein, the former political arm of the IRA, today led by Michelle O’Neill in Northern Ireland, two years after her victory in the Stormont elections. . The vice-president will come from the DUP, under the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
A widely welcomed agreement
Without specifying the details of the agreement concluded with London, Jeffrey Donaldson affirmed that “this agreement will present measures which are good for Northern Ireland and which will restore our place within the United Kingdom and its internal market”. He added: “It will remove checks on goods moving through the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland, and it will end the automatic application of future EU laws by Northern Ireland.”
Mary Lou MacDonald, the leader of Sinn Fein, a nationalist party in favor of the unification of Ireland, said she was “optimistic […] to see local institutions functioning again before February 8″, a deadline given by London, and already postponed many times.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who negotiated the agreement, Chris Heaton-Harris, welcomed this announcement and assured that London would respect its side of the bargain. “I now believe that all the conditions are met for the return of the assembly. I hope to be able to finalize this agreement with the political parties as soon as possible,” he said.
Tensions in Ireland reignited by Brexit
The DUP has until now opposed the agreement concluded last year between London and Brussels – the “Windsor framework” – to govern trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, and avoid that a border separates the province and the Republic of Ireland. For some unionists, this framework does not sufficiently protect the province’s place within the United Kingdom, with certain European rules continuing to apply in Northern Ireland.
Pressure was strong on the DUP to accept a return to Northern Irish institutions. American President Joe Biden, visiting Belfast in April 2023 for the 25th anniversary of the peace accords, expressed his wish to see “the assembly and the government soon restored. »
In the Republic of Ireland, the return of unionists to the institutions was welcomed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin: “This is good news for the Irish people and the Good Friday Agreements,” he said. reacted.
I welcome the public declaration by DUP Leader Jeffrey Donaldson that power-sharing will now be restored.
The parties will come together later today. We have much to do to confront the challenges facing our public services, workers and families which require urgent action.— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) January 30, 2024
Political paralysis – notably the absence of Parliament and a local executive, competent on many subjects such as education or health – strongly disrupts public services in the province, a situation aggravated by the cost of living crisis. Minister Chris Heaton-Harris conceded in December a financial aid package of 3.3 billion pounds (3.85 billion euros), including 584 million to meet wage demands in the public sector. On the condition, however, that the DUP returns to government.
At the beginning of January, tens of thousands of civil servants went on strike to demand better pay. A movement of unprecedented scale in the province. “We have a lot to do to confront the problems of our public services, workers and families,” Michelle O’Neill reacted Tuesday morning on X.
2024-01-30 10:35:14
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