GEIS-新闻详情

What's in the deal that has broken Northern Ireland's political deadlock?

2024-02-02 00:00:00.0 独立报-英国新闻原网页

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The U.K. government on Wednesday published the details of a deal that has broken Northern Ireland’s political deadlock and should — barring a major upset — restore the regional government in Belfast after almost two years on ice.

Unveiled on the fourth anniversary of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, the agreement eases some of the border checks imposed because of Brexit that unsettled Northern Ireland’s delicate political balance and sparked a political crisis.

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Britain’s exit from the European trading bloc in 2020 imposed new trade barriers between the U.K. and the EU, and also between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. That’s because Northern Ireland shares a border with an EU member, the Republic of Ireland.

An open border between the north and the republic is a key pillar of the peace process that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, so checks were imposed instead between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

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That angered Northern Ireland’s British unionists, who said the east-west customs border undermined Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K. In February 2022, the Democratic Unionist Party walked out of Northern Ireland’s government in protest.

The walkout collapsed the administration. Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, power must be shared between Northern Ireland’s two main communities — British unionists who want to stay in the U.K., and Irish nationalists who seek to unite with Ireland. One side can’t govern without the other.

The DUP boycott left Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people without a functioning administration for two years as the cost of living soared and public services creaked under the strain.

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