DUP unionists boycott election of Belfast assembly chairman suspended until ‘future date’
The Autonomous Assembly of Northern Ireland will pay salaries to the 90 deputies elected last week but will not be able to meet due to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refusal to participate in the election of its ‘speaker’ or president . Its recovery depends on the British government’s destruction of part of the European Union’s Withdrawal Agreement governing ‘Brexit’.
The moderate parties of Unionism (UUP) and Nationalism (SDLP) put forward candidates to occupy the presidency, but the Autonomy Act requires majorities in the two blocs, which they failed to achieve. The Assembly cannot meet because there is no one to convene it, but the ministers who served before the election will continue to oversee their ministries with limited powers.
The autonomy suspension is extended until the DUP changes position. In the only meeting debate to date, the DUP argued that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the Irish Protocol, part of the international treaty that sealed ‘Brexit’, are incompatible, and the other sides criticized it for giving the province the governance at a time of acute economic difficulties.
The collapse prevents Sinn Féin from holding the position of Prime Minister of the Executive, after taking the largest number of seats last Thursday. His victory has symbolic significance because he is the first of a party in Catholic or nationalist culture. Republican leader and candidate Michelle O’Neill used the name “Northern Ireland” in her speech for the first time in the Assembly.
The incompatibility of the Protocol is based on the fact that the rules derived from the peace agreement require consensus between the two communities for decision-making. Naomi Long, leader of the Alianza party, which does not define herself as nationalist or unionist, blamed the DUP for lack of consensus on ‘Brexit’, whose only significant support in the province was that party.
The closure of the autonomy is “the only lever” to force the “lying prime minister” – in the words of radical trade unionist Jim Allister – to go against the Protocol. Boris Johnson will meet O’Neill in Belfast on Monday to quell nationalist protests over his support for the DUP’s position. His government is expected to publish a bill on Tuesday to repeal parts of the protocol.
Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission, negotiator on behalf of the EU, has warned that “such unilateral action will undermine the essential conditions for Northern Ireland to continue to have access to the internal market for goods.” The Commission will analyze the substance of the UK bill to determine the answers.
The bill would take at least a year to pass and the British government would have to overcome obstacles in the House of Commons – the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, and the Conservative chairman of the Committee for Northern Ireland, Simon Hoare, have already announced his rejection – and would probably be temporarily blocked by the Lords.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, who has given up his seat in Belfast to keep the one in Westminster, said both Brussels and London “know what to do to fix this problem”. His election manifesto is more concrete. It will include the abolition of border controls between Britain and Northern Ireland between tests to assess potential changes.
The abolition of controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland would coincide with the fourth postponement, this time until the end of 2023, of the introduction of controls on goods entering UK borders from the EU, due to logistical issues. That factor could increase Brussels’ concerns about preserving the security of the common market in Ireland.
While the protocol will impose bureaucratic costs on trade between two parts of the UK, a study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, published this week, shows that the region’s gross domestic product is the average growth rate. in the UK in the last quarter, reflecting the dual membership of the UK and European markets.
Source: La Verdad
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