The 'Windsor framework': the keys to the Irish Protocol that London and Brussels have updated

• Negotiation Sunak and Von Der Leyen reach an agreement on the Irish Protocol: "It marks a new chapter in relations with the EU"

• United Kingdom Two years of stumbles, falls and betrayals by the Northern Irish Protocol

The Brexit Exit Agreement, by which the United Kingdom left the European Union, consisted of a Political Declaration and a legal document of 585 pages, 185 articles and three protocols.

One on Northern Ireland, another on Cyprus and the last one on Gibraltar.

The most complicated and important of all is the one that affects Northern Ireland, since the objective was to avoid, whatever the case, the hard borders with Ireland and jeopardize the Good Friday Peace Agreements.

When the withdrawal materialized, Belfast should also have been completely excluded from the EU or the Single Market, but in order to preserve the

and not create a huge problem, a mechanism was sought.

The initial idea, agreed with

, was the so-called

, a guarantee that if things got ugly after the separation, the whole of the United Kingdom would more or less end up under a certain European umbrella, both for the rules and for the jurisdiction of the

.

Although he was tied up,

hardline

forced a renegotiation, opting to put Northern Ireland in a unique and exposed situation.

And that has caused friction, problems and breaches.

Brussels has relaxed its demands several times and now, after months of disputes, it has reached a new agreement with the Rishi Sunak government, which they have called

.

Is that Protocol in force?

Yes, although it has never really been implemented fully or well, because

.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a masterpiece of diplomatic engineering, one of the most technically and politically complicated agreements.

It covers every aspect, every detail, from customs to health controls, from food to medicine.

And that is why it is also practically inapplicable from day one.

There are no hard borders, but customs, VAT, and phytosanitary controls returned to protect the integrity of the Single Market.

The United Kingdom completed its exit from the EU on January 30, 2020, and on December 31 of that year, in the midst of the pandemic, what was known as the Transition period ended, 11 months during which London had no voice, vote or veto in Brussels, but was still obliged to apply Community law in all respects.

What is the problem?

Something obvious: Brexit means separating from the EU, its rules and market, and that has meant that companies in Northern Ireland, and British in general, have to do a lot of additional

, manage a growing bureaucracy for exports and have seen how many products do not arrive as before, since neither the continental nor the British manufacturers want to assume the additional costs.

Citizens and companies had adapted reasonably, and although they asked for the burden to be lightened as much as possible, they did not want head-on clashes with Brussels.

But Johnson and the

, and the DUP, the unionists in the Northern Irish Parliament and key supporter in Westminster for the Conservatives,

.

What has happened since then?

The main philosophy guiding the whole process since 2020 is that goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland are not subject to tariffs unless they are at risk of being

into the EU later.

On the one hand,

, has mistreated officials in charge of customs or health examinations.

Smuggling has proliferated.

The EU has never had real-time access to the computer system that manages the entry and exit of products at ports, for example, as it was signed.

London repeatedly asked for extensions before acting and then has done so halfway.

Brussels has opened half a dozen infringement procedures and taken the UK to court, but the process is very slow.

What does the agreement announced yesterday mean?

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, have announced a new agreement, the

, which in practice is

, so that medicines can reach hospitals and pharmacies if the British regulator has approved them and to reduce the paperwork required for consumer agri-food goods, so supermarkets will have life much easier.

.

Brussels says that this does not change the Withdrawal Agreement or the initial Protocol, but rather applies it, since article 164 always established that the Joint Committee designated to "correct errors, rectify omissions or other deficiencies, or to address unforeseen situations when signed the Withdrawal Agreement" has always had the power to tweak what causes the most friction during the first four years after the end of the transition period, that is, until the end of 2024.

What is changed on the ground?

For example, on customs, trusted actors will enjoy smoother procedures when transporting goods for end use in Northern Ireland.

In the agri-food area, simplified documentation will make it easier to move retail food, including when end consumers are in Northern Ireland.

The application of UK public health standards for such products will mean that

.

Refrigerated meats, such as hot dogs, which have been a day-one obsession, will also be able to move more easily.

Likewise, "a solution has been found to allow people to travel with their pets from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, on the basis of a simple document" and "it has been achieved that plants, shrubs, trees and seeds can be transported to Northern Ireland. North, supporting garden centers and agriculture," says the Commission.

What was the most difficult topic?

There are three elements.

The paperwork, the acceptance of the hardest wing of unionism for political and identity reasons and the role of the Court of Justice of the EU which, as stated in the Withdrawal Agreement, has to have and will continue to have weight in the last resort.

The EU does not agree to give it up, and the United Kingdom has already left, yes, but the trade agreement between the two blocs, which was negotiated in record time, depends to a large extent on those legal guarantees.

What the negotiators have now done is create an additional emergency mechanism, giving Stormont, the Parliament of Northern Ireland, additional powers to ultimately reject legislative elements.

The Withdrawal Agreement already contemplated options, such as the power to decide in 2024 to completely annul the Protocol if it considered it unnecessary.

But now it is given a little more weight and new powers.

Thus, the Government of the United Kingdom, at the request of at least 30 members of the Legislative Assembly, could stop the application of amended legal provisions "that may have a specific significant and lasting impact on the daily life of communities in Ireland from North.

, in a very well-defined process set out in a UK Unilateral Declaration," the pact reads.

Why does the EU agree to relax once more?

Because the citizens of Northern Ireland asked for it, because the political tensions are very worrying, because violence threatens to return to the streets and because, furthermore, the previous situation was not working.

Brussels once again plays the pragmatic card, trusting that this will also serve to

.

Sunak seems much more open and reasonable in that regard, constantly talking about the EU as "allies", something his predecessors seemed to have trouble admitting.

The first step, the leaders have said, is that the return of cooperation could translate into the normalization of scientific relations and joint participation in programs such as Horizon Europe or perhaps even Erasmus later, for example, if the United Kingdom showed interest, which which hasn't been done so far.

Is everything resolved then?

No, far from it.

It is an "agreement in principle", now it remains to be seen if the hardest sector of the

, which has already carried off several prime ministers, swallows.

And if the DUP, besieged and seeing how the country's demographic dynamics are working against it (Sinn Féin, the Republicans, won the last elections), accepts or prefers to blow everything up once more.

Republicans back the Protocol while all three unionist parties, the DUP, Ulster Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice, oppose the Protocol in general, arguing that the Irish Sea border threatens the status of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom.

But there are sectors that are more receptive to today's tweaks.

The current leader of the DUP,

, has maintained that his party would not re-enter the Stormont Executive, which requires the support of both nationalists and unionists to operate, until Westminster guarantees that Northern Ireland is fully within the United Kingdom.

This Windsor Framework will hardly be enough for that.

Then there is the implementation on the ground.

Time and again the EU has given in and this has

.

There are infringement procedures, arbitration, complaints before the courts, but the free trade agreement has not been stopped, as feared.

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• United Kingdom

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• European Comission

• Ursula von der Leyen

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• Ireland

• Theresa May

• Boris Johnson

• Justice