Britain is moving to invalidate parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol under pressure from the Conservative Stormont and the hardliners Brexitea. Brussels will file three separate proceedings against Britain in retaliation.
The Brexit bill, which has been accused of undermining the Good Friday Agreement, is at the center of the controversy.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Protocol, how Boris Johnson wants to change it, and whether the UK and the EU are heading for a trade war.
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?
It was the deal between Britain and the European Union that determined what the trade rules for Northern Ireland would look like after Brexit.
Northern Ireland borders Ireland, an EU member state, and there are no checkpoints, so goods can move freely.
Given that all sides have promised to keep the borders of the land open, London and Brussels have agreed to check for goods moving to and from the British mainland.
However, it effectively created a customs border between two different regions of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, infuriating unionists.
What’s the latest news?
For a year and a half, the European Commission and UK negotiators have been discussing how the trade friction caused by the Protocol can be mitigated.
Negotiations are very technical and there is no easy answer, as the UK is pushing to protect the integrity of the coalition and Brussels is trying to maintain the integrity of the single market.
Foreign Minister Liz Truss announced earlier this month that Britain would submit a bill to unilaterally suspend parts of the Protocol. Parliamentarians are voting on Monday for a new law empowering the minister to abandon some of the transactions.
For the first time, supporters of Ireland’s unification became Northern Ireland’s largest party after the Democratic Unionist refused to do power-sharing with Sinn Féin and Stormont after the May elections.
The Democratic Unionist Party opposes the protocol at the heart of the campaign, blocking its recovery until the Northern Ireland Assembly is removed or replaced. In other words, the government cannot tackle problems such as living expenses and medical expenses.
So what’s the problem?
Unionists are afraid that the Protocol is driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The Democratic Unionist Party claims that checks are pushing up the cost of living, which is being contested by other Northern Ireland parties, whose special position in the single market protects its economy. Claims.