A new calendar with deadlines to restore autonomy and cuts in deputies’ salaries encourages the agreement
The Northern Ireland minister in the UK government, Chris Heaton-Harris, has resigned from calling for elections in the region, despite autonomy having no functioning parliament or executive board. He will present a bill to parliament in the coming days that, if approved, will set new deadlines for reaching agreements.
Shared autonomy was not restored after May elections as the largest trade union party, the DUP, refuses to participate in the governance of the region as long as the Brussels-London protocol to regulate trade in goods between Britain remains in place and Northern Ireland. Unionists think it will take the province away from the British union.
The current law says that the Northern Ireland minister must call new elections if the institutions are not formed within six months of the election, which took place on October 28. Heaton-Harris repeatedly stated that he would summon them, in what was seen as a futile attempt to break the DUP resistance.
The trade union protest against what the UK and the European Union have agreed is followed by the frustration of the nationalists and the Alliance Party, and the result is that the Good Friday Agreement, signed nearly 25 years ago, is an empty shell. And the minister acknowledges that no one wants new elections. It has extended to December 8, the deadline to find an agreement that satisfies all parties. And if it is not reached, it will be extended until January 19.
Heaton-Harris will also introduce measures into law to alleviate budget problems in a province with an annual deficit of more than $700 million and now administered by officials with no political powers. It will also regulate the 25% cut in the salary of regional deputies as long as the standoff continues.
Meanwhile, the House of Lords is debating the bill that gives British ministers the right to unilaterally change the rules of the Protocol. The Secretary of State for Europe, Leo Docherty, confirms that the government is not accelerating or stopping its processing. “We just let it go,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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