International Writing (EuroEFE).- The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, closed this Monday the agreement on the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol, which should clear up the post- Brexit between the EU and the UK.
The particular situation of Northern Ireland, territory of the United Kingdom and border with the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, has been one of the most important stumbling blocks in the negotiations between the London government and the Twenty-seven to reach the Brexit agreement.
Most relevant dates in the process since the consultation:
06.23.2016.- In the referendum on Brexit, the Northern Irish electorate votes to continue in the EU with 55.78%.
08.12.2017.- The United Kingdom and the EU reach an agreement that proposes that the two jurisdictions of the island will not have regulatory divergences after their divorce and protects the Good Friday peace agreement.
– Signing of the EU exit agreement 10.17.2019.- The EU and the UK sign the Withdrawal Agreement or Withdrawal that includes the security mechanism called the Irish Protocol, by which Northern Ireland remains aligned with certain rules to the single European market but will form part of the customs territory of the United Kingdom, for which the controls on the goods will be carried out in the point of entry into that British territory and not into the Republic of Ireland.
20.12.2019.- The British Parliament approves the exit agreement of the United Kingdom from the EU.
02.01.2020.- The Protocol for Northern Ireland, included in the Withdrawal Agreement, enters into force.
09.08.2020.- The British Minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, admits that the Internal Market Bill with which the British Executive intends to modify certain provisions agreed with the EU, “violates international law”.
🇪🇺🤝🇬🇧 Where there is a will, there is a #deal – we have one! It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the UK and it is testament to our commitment to find solutions. I recommend that #EUCO endorses this deal. pic.twitter.com/7AfKyCZ6k9
— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) October 17, 2019
– Trade agreement 12.24.2020.- The EU and the UK reach a historic trade and cooperation agreement for an orderly Brexit, which Northern Ireland welcomes with relief.
12.31.2020.- The 47 years of the United Kingdom in the community club are definitively closed. The “post Brexit” era begins.
01.13.2021.- The bureaucratic procedures to control goods arriving in Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom cause shortages in Northern Irish supermarkets.
– Customs controls 02.03.2021.- The United Kingdom demands that the EU extend until 2023 the temporary measures agreed to minimize controls in Northern Ireland.
03.03.2021.- Surprisingly, London announces that from April 1 to October 1 it will not apply customs border controls to goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
03.15.2021.- The EC announces the opening of infringement proceedings against the United Kingdom for breach of the Brexit agreement.
June 2021.- Application of the Irish protocol that prohibits the importation of refrigerated meat from the United Kingdom into Northern Ireland, the origin of the so-called “sausage war”.
09.06.2021.- The United Kingdom unilaterally postpones post-Brexit customs controls in Northern Ireland for the third time.
10.15.2021.- The EC and the British Government begin negotiations to retouch the Protocol for Northern Ireland.
11.05.2021.- The EC warns the United Kingdom of the “serious consequences” if it chooses to unilaterally suspend the Irish protocol, due to threats from the United Kingdom to the EU to activate article 16 that allows the suspension unilaterally unilateral part of the said protocol.
02.02.2022.- Northern Ireland suspends the Brexit customs controls agreed by the United Kingdom and the EU. The following day the main minister, the unionist Paul Givan, resigns.
05.05.2022.- Historic victory of Sinn Fein in the autonomic elections of Northern Ireland. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) reiterates that it will not form a government with the Republicans if the Brexit protocol for the region is not eliminated.
06.28.2022.- The British Parliament supports the law introduced by Johnson to unilaterally alter the Protocol for Northern Ireland.
– Arrival of Sunak 07.07.2022.- Boris Johnson resigns and was replaced by Liz Truss, who only served 45 days in office. In October, Rishi Sunak, who was Johnson’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, arrives at Downing Street.
07.13.2022.- The EC gives 235 million euros to a new program for peace between the two Irelands.
07.22.2022.- Brussels opens four files against London for not applying the Irish protocol
11.10.2022.- Sunak, asks his Irish counterpart, Micheál Martin, to show “flexibility and pragmatism” to resolve the dispute over the Protocol for Northern Ireland included in the Brexit agreement.
11.23.2022.- London aspires to “eliminate physical barriers to trade” between the United Kingdom and the EU raised after Brexit.
08.02.2023.- The British Supreme Court considers that the Brexit Protocol for Northern Ireland is legal, the ruling follows an appeal by pro-British unionist Protestant politicians. In the same way, the Belfast High Court ruled before, in 2021 and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in 2022.
02.16.2023.- British Prime Minister Sunak travels to Belfast, along with his Minister for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris.
Edited by M. Moya
