Ireland’s Minister for Trade and Employment said this Saturday that the approval of a new agreement to deal with the problems associated with Brexit is a fundamental task at a time when Europe is at war.
“We have a chance to close the chapter that has frozen the politics of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK and the entire European Union for a long time”, and this goal is even more important at a time when “there is a war”. in Europe,” Neil Richmond told Lusa this Saturday.
While in Portugal to attend the Irish-Portuguese Business Association’s annual sustainability conference, the minister spoke about the importance of validating the recent Windsor Agreement between the UK government and the European Union (EU).
Windsor Framework Agreement [Windsor Framework] seeks to resolve one of the biggest deadlocks resulting from Britain’s exit from the European bloc (Brexit) by changing Northern Ireland’s protocol to end disagreements over the commercial status of the region, which is part of the United Kingdom but has a non-border agreement with The Republic of Ireland, a country that remains in the EU.
The fact that Europe is experiencing an “energy and cost of living crisis” leads Neil Richmond to stress the “importance of a close relationship” between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
“We can move forward towards developing this much closer relationship when we close this chapter,” he warned, adding that he believes the Windsor Agreement “will be approved with absolute certainty.”
The ratification of the new treaty depends mainly on the approval of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which, however, still fears that Northern Ireland may continue to be too subject to European rules and laws.
However, Ireland’s Trade Minister believes an agreement will be reached “in the coming weeks” and confided to Louse that he was “very happy” that he was able to reach “a good agreement for the UK, the EU and especially for Ireland”.
On the one hand, “ensures that there is no ‘strengthening’ of the border on the island of Ireland”, which means maintaining “the peace achieved in the Good Friday Agreement”, the 25th anniversary of which will be celebrated on 10 April. .
This agreement, officially called the Belfast Agreement, was signed in 1998 by the governments of Great Britain and Ireland to end conflicts between nationalists and unionists over the union of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.
The DUP must make that decision and “allow the Northern Ireland Executive to function again so that the people of Northern Ireland and all people can really get back to their lives,” Neil Richmond defended.
He added that there was a need to “capture the economic potential and progress that this structure can bring to industry and society across Northern Ireland”.
To coincide with the adoption of the “Windsor Framework” on the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement would be, in the opinion of the Irish Minister, “very special.”
While he defends the agreement as a decisive step, the official admits that Brexit is far from over, despite the fact that the agreement to leave the United Kingdom from the European Union was already signed three years ago.
Brexit is not over yet. Brexit will be with us for future generations in many ways,” he said.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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