The decision to share customs data sows seeds for the deal, although it is doubtful whether Northern Ireland will regain autonomy this year
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, and the British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, have announced an agreement in principle on the system for exchanging data on the movement of goods at customs between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The two politicians released a joint statement confirming that this agreement “is a new basis for discussions on the protocol”.
At the end of last year, British government specialists had already shown their European Union colleagues the new computer system that allows Union officials to receive real-time data on these transits. Among other things, the Protocol regulates customs controls between English, Scottish and Welsh ports and those of Northern Ireland.
These controls are, according to the Union, necessary to prevent illegal goods from entering its market, from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland. The UK government has insisted that the volume of trade is so small and the destinations so well known that not so many checks are necessary. The Commission has complained that it has not received any movement data from customs.
It is perhaps the least of the problems Cleverly and Sefcovic have to solve before the DUP’s pro-British unionists accept a reformed protocol. They are asking for them to be withdrawn before they are reintegrated into Northern Ireland’s self-government, which has broken down since the May election. The regional parliament was re-established in 1998 in the Good Friday Agreement, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in April.
Former Irish Prime Minister and now responsible for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, travels to Brussels today to promote understanding. In the few days that Liz Truss was British Prime Minister, a new cordiality has already spread between London, Dublin and Brussels. Rishi Sunak’s leadership is said to have encouraged her. This principle of agreement promotes mutual trust.
The Commission has already expressed its willingness to drastically reduce customs controls and, although the technicians need to fine-tune the details, the system proposed by the British (red and green customs channels depending on the destination of the goods, register of frequent traders, sanctions, the information sharing, etc.) seems likely to be consensus.
Perhaps more problematic for the Union would be to accept the county’s dual system of community or UK regulation. Ordinary products coming from Great Britain are not allowed into Northern Ireland or treated as imports because they do not comply with the former. A labeling system that filters coexistence in the area of this dual regulation is the British suggestion.
As Northern Ireland remains in the Community VAT system, it cannot benefit from UK Government decisions for the economy of the whole of the UK. The same applies to subsidies. London hides behind the lack of disagreements in the past and advocates the consultation and resolution of disagreements provided for in the Trade and Cooperation Treaty to overcome this obstacle.
The Sunak government also wants to abolish the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union as the first and only arbitrator in disputes. He wants to reproduce the arbitration system of the Treaty. But it does not address another of the unionists’ complaints, namely that they are marginalized in a system where they have to obey laws and rules without voice or voice.
The Protocol negotiators can reach an agreement, but Northern Ireland’s autonomy will not be restored. In the region’s complicated politics, the DUP is determined to win back votes lost in the last election to the most radical union movement. Without them, it would again be second in the regional executive, behind Sinn Féin, a party historically linked to the IRA.
Source: La Verdad
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