Brexit: Understand the deal between the UK and the EU on Northern Ireland

Sunak said “a referendum will be held” in the British Parliament [sobre o tema] In due course that vote will be respected.” The Labor Party, which opposes Chung, said it would support the deal.

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has finalized the process of leaving the European Union, withdrawing a rule originally created to avoid a closed border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The “backstop”, as it is called in English, will ensure passport and cargo checkpoints at the border between the two countries – the so-called “hard border” – are not turned away.

If this was to be achieved, there were fears that old tensions between the Irish and the Northern Irish would resurface.

But many Brexit supporters have said the “backstop” would actually prevent the UK from severing ties with the EU.

A new deal reached between London and Brussels attempts a middle ground for these negotiations. Check out the key points:

For security reasons, Ireland and Northern Ireland have had a “hard border” for decades.

In 1998, a peace deal ended three decades of violent conflict between Catholic nationalists who wanted integration with Ireland and Protestant unionists who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

That year – after almost two years of negotiations and 30 years of conflict – the Good Friday Agreement was signed between then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

As a result, a new government was formed in which power was divided between the Unionists and the Nationalists.

The purpose of the agreement is for the two parties to work together in a body called the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The legislature can now take decisions that previously belonged only to the British Parliament in London.

A mechanism called the “Stormont brake” was also established.

Under the Protocol, some EU laws apply in Northern Ireland.

This process gives Northern Ireland’s Parliamentary Assembly the power to veto a given piece of legislation (Stormont is the name of the seat of Northern Ireland’s Assembly).

The mechanism is triggered if at least 30 legislators from two or more parties in the assembly sign the objection.

According to the agreement the “Stormont break” cannot be engaged for “trivial reasons” and is reserved for “significantly different” rules.

Whether Brexit supporters in the UK and Northern Ireland will be satisfied with the terms of the deal remains to be seen in the coming days.

For them, there is still the impression that the protocol loosens Northern Ireland’s ties with the rest of England.

Unionist Party leader Geoffrey Donaldson said “there is no hiding the fact that EU law will continue to apply in Northern Ireland in some areas of our economy”.

Johnson, a former British prime minister and one of the biggest Brexit activists, has not yet commented publicly on the announcement.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who has long led negotiations to leave the European bloc, hailed the decision reached between London and Brussels: “It will make a big difference”.

Sunak hopes the deal will improve cooperation between the UK and the EU, covering the regulation of financial services.

The British prime minister hopes a deal win with the EU will ensure greater control within his Conservative Party and bring better popularity ratings (Labour rivals have come out ahead in one poll and a national election is expected in 2024).

In Parliament, Sunak said the deal ensured free trade with Northern Ireland, protected Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and protected sovereignty by eliminating the “democratic deficit”.

– This text has been published