Northern Ireland trade unionists face historic choice as EU, UK near protocol deal | – #Northern #Ireland #trade #unionists #face #historic #choice #protocol #deal
BELFAST, 10 February (Reuters) – Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, the EU and Britain negotiators will face a historic dilemma if they reach a post-Brexit trade deal: change their red lines or risk signing a death warrant for decades of power-sharing with Irish nationalists.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) could take a chance and ratify the Northern Ireland Protocol deal, which is sure to back down on its tough demands, but which would open the door for more radical challengers to overtake the party.
The alternative: reject the deal, double down on the boycott of Northern Ireland’s devolved parliament and question the fundamentals of the Good Friday Agreement as world leaders prepare to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 peace accord that ended 30 years of sectarian violence. violence.
Britain David Kerr, a former adviser to David Trimble, a key ally who signed the peace deal in his state, said the deal could be in “real trouble” if protocol and power-sharing fail.
Latest UpdatesEurope categoryWagner boss Prigozhin says Russia of Ukraine it may take two years to capture the eastern regions, article with galleryGalleryMiddle EastcategoryGermany after the protests Iran espionageflour sees an increase, writes Welt am Sonntag
See 2 more stories
“A positive resolution of the Protocol issue is not only very beneficial for everyone living in Northern Ireland, but is strategically vital for the future of Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom,” Kerr said.
As London and Brussels seek to put post-Brexit disputes over Northern Ireland behind them, European Union On Monday, the province of the EU unit He said that progress has been made in the negotiations on the revision of the trade rules that keep the goods market. A hard border with EU member Ireland.
The renegotiations were sparked by anger in London between Brexiteers and unionists over the introduction of checks on some goods coming from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland.
However, opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Northern Irish voters support the protocol, with 54% in favor of the current lighter-touch application of the rules and 34% against.
Big in the 2016 Brexit referendum Britain Although the whole voted to leave the EU, Northern Ireland voted 56% to 44%.
‘NOT AGAINST FIGHTING’
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told Reuters that the talks were being conducted “very secretly” by the Unionists, but said he was “not paranoid about betrayal” by the British government.
The DUP, he added, was in no position to compromise. “We don’t want to make the perfect the enemy of the possible.
But if there is no deal that unionists can support, Northern Ireland will have no action political will continue to have no institutions, “and I don’t think that’s the outcome that anybody wants,” he said.
However, looking over the DUP’s shoulder is a party that Irish nationalists say is comfortable with the breakdown of power-sharing with Sinn Fein and the end of devolved power if necessary: the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).
TUV leader Jim Allister said: “If the choice is Sinn Féin rule or even imperfect British rule, I would certainly take British rule before accepting Sinn Féin rule.”
He warned that the opposition to the protocol could “take a heavy place” in the local elections to be held in May.
While Allister is the only TUV MP elected to the 90-seat assembly, last year the DUP’s ex political His party’s support rose to 7.6% when he left his wing Sinn Féin, falling 7 places to 21%. The guerilla Irish Republican Army will be the largest party for the first time.
The protocol’s compromise of British sovereignty is “anathema to any democrat. But it seems we have a new breed of colonialist among us,” Allister said, referring to the EU.
In addition to the Unionist extremists, there is the Loyalist Communities Council, which claims to represent loyalist paramilitary groups, the sectarian opposite of the old IRA.
“Certainly I would be concerned about violence,” said council chairman David Campbell. “My concern would be a new generation that has more malicious intent and is looking at targets in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere. People will look at what they feel is the fault.”
Completing the intense pressure Donaldson is under from all sides as the defining moment of his leadership approaches is the more liberal Ulster Unionist Party, which is poised to position itself as the unionist party of pragmatism should the DUP boycott intensify.
UUP leader Doug Beattie said: “We can say it’s a bad deal… But at least if we were in government… we have the ability to question it, change it, change it, block it all.”
“If we are not in the government, we cannot do anything. Ultimately, Northern Ireland’s work is what will preserve Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.”
(This story has been refiled to correct the spelling of “Irish Republican Army” in paragraph 16)
Edited by Padraic Halpin, Mark Heinrich and Jonathan Oatis
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-11 18:51:21
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”