EU member states agreed major new deals with UK on Northern Ireland issue. The European Commission and the Sunak government signed a new deal on Northern Ireland three weeks ago. If the British Parliament also accepts the so-called Windsor Framework, British goods destined for Northern Ireland will no longer have to be checked.
Arrangements have also been made which provide more room for different VAT and excise rates in Northern Ireland than in the EU. The Northern Irish will also have more of a say. The EU had previously made deals with the British to prevent Brexit from creating a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but come to think of it, the British couldn’t live with it. According to London, those deals resulted in a hard border at the Irish Sea.
Red and green labels
That so-called Northern Ireland Protocol marred British-European relations for two years and led to a political stalemate. Until three weeks ago, British Prime Minister Sunak and EU President von der Leyen agreed on a new construction: the Windsor Agreement. This new plan has a green and a red route – the green route includes all goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland which are specially labeled to remain in Northern Ireland. The red route are goods that go to the EU via Northern Ireland, they also receive a separate label. And Europe can monitor those labels.
The EU is now on board with this new finding, despite the fact that some of the new deals require a change in European legislation. For example, for the import and export of medicines and fresh food, animals and plants. The British House of Commons will vote on the Windsor Framework tomorrow.
Source: BNR
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