In Northern Ireland, ten days after the local elections, still no executive in sight: the Unionist community, near London, refuses to participate if the Northern Irish protocol is not abolished. It is this provision of Brexit that places a customs border between the province and the rest of the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson is currently in Belfast to push the negotiations forward.
With our correspondent in Dublin, Emily Wine
Prior to his visit to Belfast, Boris Johnson offered himself a platform in the local daily Belfast Telegraph to address the new Northern Irish MPs: “Elect a President of the Chamber. Form an executive. Get back to work. »
A message addressed particularly to the Democratic Unionist Party, the DUP, which refuses to support a coalition as long as London does not renounce the Northern Irish protocol, included in the agreement to leave the EU. The Prime Minister invites elected officials to focus on the daily problems of Northern Irish people: health, education, the cost of living.
In exchange for this return to business, Boris Johnson should be reassuring and renew his intention to change the protocol. Faced with the refusal of the European Union to reopen negotiations on a text signed by the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister advances the changes undergone since by the world economy – the pandemic, the war in Ukraine… The government could present as of Tuesday its declaration of intent to legislate, unilaterally, on the question.
► To read also: Northern Ireland: the unionists block the constitution of the new government