Status: 04/10/2023 12:38 p.m
Northern Ireland currently has no government due to a political deadlock – a breach of the Good Friday Agreement. On the 25th anniversary of the agreement, British Prime Minister Sunak is calling for the formation of a government to be speeded up.
25 years after the end of decades of civil war in Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has lauded the “courage, perseverance and political imagination” of the leaders who shaped Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement. At the same time he called for more speed in the formation of a new government in the region.
“While we remember the solid progress we have made together, we must also step up our efforts to fulfill the promise made in 1998,” Sunak said on the anniversary of the peace treaty.
“We need a government again [in Nordirland] “We stand ready to work with our partners in Irish government and local parties to get the institutions up and running again as soon as possible.”
Agreement provides for unity government
On April 10, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement ended the bloody civil war between mostly Catholic supporters of unification of the two parts of Ireland on the one hand and predominantly Protestant supporters of union with Great Britain, the police and the British army on the other. Around 3,700 people lost their lives in the conflict and around 47,500 were injured.
25 years after the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland – A review
Sven Lohmann, ARD London, daily news 11:00 a.m., April 10, 2023
Among other things, the peace agreement provides for a unity government with representatives from both camps, but there has been a political deadlock in Northern Ireland for months. The largest Unionist party, the DUP, refuses to enter a government with the Republican party Sinn Fein.
The point of contention is the trading rules for Northern Ireland
Unionists are concerned about the trade rules that will apply to Northern Ireland after Brexit. Even a compromise recently reached between London and Brussels has not been able to change this so far.
As a British part of the country, Northern Ireland will continue to follow the rules of the EU internal market and the customs union even after Brexit. This is to avoid a hard border with the EU state of Ireland, where old tensions could flare up. Instead, however, trade barriers have arisen between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.