The British Government plans to present this week the bill with which it threatens to unilaterally modify the so-called Ireland Protocol, a key piece of the Brexit agreement to manage Northern Ireland in new trade relations between the UK and the EU.
After the historic triumph of the Catholics of Sinn Fein in the last Belfast Parliament elections, the Protestants of the DUP now refuse to form a coalition government that both communities must respect by the 1998 peace agreement. Downing Street argues that by acting unilaterally, they would not be breaking international Brexit law, but protecting peace in Ulster.
The demands that London now poses to Brussels are not few. On the one hand, you want two types of brokers. A green one, exempt from controls, for goods from Great Britain that remain in Northern Irish territory and do not cross into the Republic of Ireland (EU territory). And a red one for the rest of shipments.
Likewise, he wants the quality standards imposed in Northern Ireland to be the British ones, and not those of the EU. And he wants more tax flexibility, so that any VAT changes he applies to Britain will also apply to Northern Ireland.
Finally, it demands that the Court of Justice of the EU not be the supervisory body for the rules of the community market in Northern Ireland, but that an arbitration mechanism similar to the one established in the Commercial and Cooperation Treaty that they signed be applied. London and Brussels to avoid a hard Brexit.
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