After two years of blockage linked to the consequences of Brexit, Northern Irish institutions are preparing to restart, Saturday February 3, with for the first time in the history of the British province a nationalist Prime Minister, Michelle O'Neill .

The Northern Irish parliament at Stormont must elect a president before the boss of Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein officially becomes the first head of government of the British province favorable to the unification of the island.

Under the co-governance resulting from the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 which ended three decades of bloody conflict, Michelle O'Neill, 47, will have a Unionist Deputy Prime Minister at her side.

See alsoIn Belfast, lives changed by the Good Friday peace agreement

Sinn Fein came first in the May 2022 elections, an unprecedented shift which shows the demonization of this formation which was once the political showcase of the IRA (Irish Republican Army).

Michelle O'Neill promised to be a "Prime Minister for all" and described as a "day of optimism" the recovery of institutions, whose paralysis affected local public services and overwhelmed the population.

Avoiding the return of a physical border

After months of negotiations with the British government, unionists from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) announced their decision this week to end their boycott. This led to the paralysis of the Assembly and the local executive, where power is shared between the unionists – committed to maintaining Northern Ireland in the British fold – and the nationalists.

Two years ago today, the Unionist Party announced that it was withdrawing from local institutions in protest against post-Brexit trade arrangements, in which it denounced a threat to Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom.

In the implementation of Brexit, one of the main difficulties was to find a solution which avoids the return of a physical border between the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and the British province, while protecting the integrity of the single European market.

See also “It’s hard to leave the past behind”: growing up in Northern Ireland after the conflict

A modification of these provisions negotiated between London and Brussels a year ago, called the "Windsor framework" and reducing controls on goods, was not enough to convince the DUP.

But the Unionist Party led by Jeffrey Donaldson ended up accepting an agreement with the British government this week, believing that this text offers sufficient guarantees and that it removes the border in the Irish Sea that it denounced. A decision which, however, is not unanimous within the party.

Under the gaze of Brussels

The agreement is being scrutinized in Brussels, which has promised to "carefully analyze" the text, monitoring any fundamental changes to the provisions negotiated with London.

Downing Street argued on Thursday that the measures that have been announced are “operational” and do not require formal approval from Brussels.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar spoke to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday and said "no one at this stage is raising any red flags or anything that causes us any major concern." .

The restart of Northern Irish institutions will also allow the release by London of an envelope of 3.3 billion pounds sterling (around 3.9 billion euros) to support public services, which recently experienced a strike. historic magnitude.

With AFP

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