The approaching deadline of the UK approaching the people of the border town to be insulted October 10 18:30

The UK's deadline for leaving the EU = European Union is approaching the 31st of this month.

However, the UK and the EU have not yet reached an agreement in the negotiations over the conditions of how Britain will leave.

The biggest challenge is the issue of border management between the UK and Ireland.

While I couldn't see what happened in the future, I met people who showed irritation and anxiety in the border town of England and Northern Ireland. (International Department reporter Nana Yamada)

“A border that does n’t exist”

Northern Ireland may be unfamiliar to us living in Japan, but it is part of the UK. Britain is an island country, but there is a continuous border on Ireland.

The northern part of the island is Northern Ireland and the southern part is the Republic of Ireland. Currently, there is no need to undergo border inspection when crossing borders, so you can come and go freely.

When you talk to people, it seems like there are no borders.

“I live in a border town, so I cross the border every day. My wife is from Ireland, so I often go to Ireland.”

“One mile from my home is a border, so I go to drink coffee and interact with my neighbors, and cross the border three or four times a day.”

Focus on border management issues

However, this “unprecedented border” has become a major focus of negotiations over the UK's departure from the EU.

If Britain leaves this situation, physical border control for imports and exports may be necessary at the border with Ireland, which remains a member of the EU. This means the current change.

British Prime Minister Johnson made a new proposal to the EU on the 2nd of this month.

Even after leaving the EU, only Northern Ireland will accept EU regulations on agricultural and industrial products that are specially imported and exported for a certain period of time based on local intentions.

On the other hand, it is said that the UK will apply customs duties on these items. This is because regaining the UK's own tariff and trade policy is one of the important objectives of leaving the EU.
However, the border is kept open and some kind of management is done away from the border.

However, there is no specific picture of how to implement the seemingly contradictory policy of “clearing the border while keeping customs clearance”.

Remind the conflict

You may be wondering why you don't do import / export control by setting up customs at the border, but there is a reason why it is not so easy.

In Northern Ireland for about 30 years until the 1990s, there was a fierce conflict between Protestant residents who wanted to stay in England and Catholic residents who wanted to belong to Ireland.

Escalated to armed conflict and bomb terror, more than 3000 people were sacrificed. At that time, checkpoints were set up at the border and the movement was checked, and terrorism targeted there was also frequent.

The turning point came 21 years ago. With the peace agreement, borders can be moved freely and safely. The intention was to liberate each other's traffic, to prosper the local economy, and to resolve conflicts among residents.

A Catholic man in his 60s living in Northern Ireland said, “The border is not just a border. For those who wish to unite Ireland, it is also a symbol of the country's division.”

With the departure from the UK's EU, if physical border management, such as customs, revives, people are worried that they may recall the time of the conflict and return to the past.

People living near the border ...

“I was born and raised in an era of conflict, so I remember how hard people were struggling with border control.”

“I hope that the physical borders will not be revived because security may worsen.”

Striking local business

Concerns have spread that physical border management will be a major blow to business if physical border management is restored.

Brian Murphy, president of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, runs the largest timber processing company on the island of Ireland.

Company sales are approximately 15 billion yen per year in Japanese yen. The forest from which the trees are cut out straddles the border, with 60% on the Irish side and 40% on the Northern Ireland side.

If border control such as customs and quarantine is revived, the current way of doing business may not be realized.

There are 23,000 cross-borders per year

The felled trees are placed on a heavy truck and taken to a processing plant in Northern Ireland without any check at the border.

The number of times crossing the border is about 23,000 times a year and about 80 times a day.

Murphy scrutinized every point where the truck crosses the border and explored the possibility of a route change in case the physical border management revives.

It turns out that if you need to go through customs or quarantine at a specific location, you may need to aggregate transportation routes.

Along with this, it is said that it is necessary to give up narrow roads such as private roads currently used to shorten transportation time. The transportation took longer than before, and there were concerns that the cost would increase.

However, at the current stage where the border management after leaving the EU is not specifically shown, it is impossible to hide the irritation unless further consideration and measures are taken.

“If you know the answer, you are doing it first. I don't really know how to solve it. The British government said that it was easy to leave the EU.

I want to build a new factory ...

Gavin Killeen, president of a company that makes labels for food packaging, is another issue in Londonderry, another border town in Northern Ireland.

The company employs approximately 50 people, and its sales are approximately ¥ 67 billion per year in Japanese yen. All paper and plastic used as labels are purchased from EU countries such as Germany and France. On the other hand, about one third of the products are sold to Irish food manufacturers.

If the UK withdraws from the EU as it is, there is a risk that both imported materials and exported products will be subject to tariffs, increasing the cost.

So, Mr. Killeen began to consider building a new factory on the Irish side, which continues to be a member of the EU. If you build a factory in Ireland, you won't have to pay customs duties.

The capital required for the construction of the factory is approximately 400 million yen. However, Mr. Killeen is unable to make a decision.

“The site of the new Irish factory is no more than a mile away from the current factory. If you are close to each other, employees can be flexible. But how will the UK leave the EU? It's unclear, so I can't decide if I really want to build a factory.

I don't want to go back at that time

Killine has increased sales by about 6 times over the past 20 years since becoming president.

It's not just business impact that is worried right now. I am concerned that the local security will not deteriorate. It is said that the event that took place in Londonderry in 1972 triggered the Northern Irish conflict. “Blood Sunday Incident”.
British troops fired during a demonstration march involving Catholic residents, killing 14 people.

Killeen, who was born and raised in this town, still remembers the time of the conflict. If physical border control is restored to the current open border, Northern Ireland and Ireland will be divided, and it is said that the conflict between residents will be rekindled.

“When I went shopping, I was always next to the danger of the store being blown up. When I entered the store, it was natural for women to see the contents of their bags and for men to get a body check. Three friends had lost their parents due to gunshots and never wanted to go back to that time.If you couldn't move freely across the border, the situation in Northern Ireland could be destabilized. I think that once the border control is restored, the town will again become financially difficult. I hope that will not happen. ”(Mr. Killeen)

After the interview

When I visited the site, I heard the frustration and anxiety that I had to continue my business without looking ahead.
Furthermore, the trauma left behind by the past conflicts is immeasurable, and I realized how the border issue is politically sensitive.

How do you maintain an open border? On the other hand, how will border management be done specifically?
Prime Minister Johnson must find the answer to this contradiction, and with the consent of the EU, it must also get approval from the British Parliament.

As the withdrawal deadline is approaching on the 31st of this month, I will continue to see if there is any light ahead of the work such as threading the needle.

International Department Reporter Nana Yamada Joined in 2009 Nagasaki Station, Chiba Bureau, Economic Department