Johnson may need to leave before Belfast’s Brexit dilemma can be resolved – POLITICO

DUBLIN – Ireland and the EU may need to wait for a change of leadership in London before the confrontation over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland can finally be defused, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday.

Varadkar, who as Irish Prime Minister struck a deal in 2019 with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that inspired the post-Brexit trade protocol for Northern Ireland, accused Johnson of ignoring majority opinion in the divided UK region. in favor of a destructive fight with Brussels.

Varadkar said he had “never seen relations so bad” between London and Dublin. He denounced Johnson’s threat to nullify core parts of the protocol treaty through Westminster legislation as an illegal tactic to placate Northern Ireland’s main pro-Brexit party, the Democratic Unionists. They are preventing the Northern Ireland legislature and inter-community government from operating until Britain scraps the protocol.

Johnson’s explicit endorsement of a Belfast faction against pro-protocol parties was undermining the careful balance of interests contained in the 1998 Northern Ireland peace agreement, Varadkar told BBC Belfast.

“Confidence must be restored… If we can’t with this (British) government, then a future government,” said Varadkar, who is due to resume as prime minister in Ireland’s coalition government later this year.

Varadkar’s message coincided with a similar assessment by Jonathan Powell, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, whose close cooperation with the Irish government was crucial in achieving the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast 24 years ago.

“Just as we spent a decade building trust, the current (British) government is spending its time destroying trust, which is catastrophic,” Powell told the Irish parliament committee to protect the Good Friday Agreement in Dublin. “I deeply regret the current state of bilateral relations, which are terrible. It is completely unnecessary.

As Blair’s key lieutenant at the Belfast talks, Powell built good working relationships with the Irish nationalists Sinn Féin, which has grown to be Northern Ireland’s largest party and, like most local parties, supports the protocol as essential to minimize the problems related to Brexit. economic damage to both parts of Ireland.

Powell said he hoped the European Commission would offer additional commitments to simplify the protocol requirements for EU checks on British products arriving at Northern Ireland ports, in particular the creation of a fast-track “green lane”. for products that do not cross the EU border into the Republic of Ireland.

“But if I were [an EU negotiator] I wouldn’t do it now, because you won’t get anything in return in the negotiations,” Powell said.

He said Brussels could reach a meaningful agreement on reforms to the protocol’s rules only once a reliable negotiating partner emerges in London.

“I know it sounds pretty useless to say let’s wait for a new prime minister. But given that I think it will happen very soon, if he were in the Irish government or in the Commission, I would be preparing for the post-Boris Johnson negotiations. If he stays, we’re going to have a real problem,” Powell told the panel of Irish lawmakers from all parties.

“If you are an EU negotiator, I don’t see how you can trust a government that has done these things against the law. I have no magic answer for what we can do while Boris Johnson remains in power, other than pray.”