United Kingdom: Northern Ireland finds its executive

The Northern Irish Parliament sits this Saturday, February 3. It's a special occasion, and not just because it's the weekend: Northern Ireland has been without a government for almost two years. This summons to Stormont should allow the Northern Irish to find a functional executive.

The Northern Irish Parliament sits this Saturday, February 3 at Stormont Palace (our photo), a first for almost two years. AFP/Archivos

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The 90 deputies of the

Northern Irish

Parliament , the “MLAs”, are summoned to the Stormont Assembly at 1 p.m. (London time), writes our correspondent in London

,

Émeline Vin

. At the top of the agenda is the election of the

Speaker

, or President of the House before Michelle O'Neill, 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.

A party, the former political showcase of the IRA (the Irish Republican Army), which won the elections in May 2022. And also for the first time, the DUP, the main unionist party, will appoint a Deputy Prime Minister. Until 2022, the unionist camp had always been in the majority in elections. This step will unlock the rest of the agenda, namely, the formation of a government, the positions being distributed between the political parties in proportion to the results in the last election. 

Two years and six recalls

It has been two years, and six recalls from the Assembly, that the deputies have failed to elect a

Speaker

. The main unionist, Protestant party, the DUP, has so far blocked the vote as it has the power to do – to demand adjustments from the central government in London on post-Brexit customs policy. Unionists judge that this endangers the unity of the Kingdom. 

This week, London accepted some relaxations. And the DUP has agreed to end its boycott. Without a government, public services such as hospitals and schools have had to operate without a budget increase for two years: this will be one of the priority issues for the new Northern Irish executive. Furthermore, the restart of Northern Irish institutions will allow London to release an envelope of 3.3 billion pounds sterling (around 3.9 billion euros).

No “ 

red flag

 ”

The Brexit implementation agreement is being scrutinized in Brussels, which has promised to “ 

carefully analyze

 ” the text, monitoring any fundamental change in the provisions negotiated with London. However, Downing Street argued on February 1 that the measures that have been announced are "

operational

» and do not require formal approval from Brussels. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on January 31, and said that " 

no one at this stage is raising any red flags or anything that raises concerns among us of major concern 

”.

(

With AFP

)

Read alsoNorthern Ireland: after two years of political paralysis, an end to the crisis is looming

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