Good Friday Agreement On Border

Brussels refused Johnson`s action to lift the backstop, making a no-deal Brexit virtually safe on October 31. Given the EU`s interest in maintaining the internal market and the UK`s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation, the prospects for a hard border within Ireland seem inevitable in this case. A division of the island would thus threaten the provisions of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and create the specter of civil violence. This could be avoided by a referendum in which the citizens of Northern Ireland would vote on whether or not they want to separate from the UK and be part of a UK, whether they want to remain members of the EU or separate from it. Alan Beattie has looked here at the consequences of the idea of zero tarriff – “No more delusions at the Irish border” (Financial Times 27 Nov 17). UK Trade Policy Observatory publishes “Hard Brexit, soft Border. Some trade implications of options for the Irish border” (7 December 18) and “Softer Brexit, softer Irish border?” (8 December 18). (Added February 7, 18). The Democratic Union Party (DUP) and some pro-Brexit Conservative MPs say the problem of a hard border should not arise, as they believe it can be overcome with a series of administrative and technical measures. Historically, there have never been customs checkpoints at the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Many of those living in towns along the border say they would not be profitable, as residents are currently crossing the border to go to school, shop and do their daily activities without realizing they have crossed the border.

12 Center for Cross-Border Studies, “The Belfast/Kar friday agreement and the negotiations on the UK`s withdrawal from the EU”, August 2018, in crossborder.ie/site2015/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Briefing-Paper-4.pdf (called march 2019). CONCLUSION: WITH CONSIDERATION. The agreement between Belfast and Good Friday does not exclude government border measures, but targets “normal security measures”. The UK`s withdrawal agreement aims to minimise physical border controls. 7 Scope 2 of the GCC created new institutional and political structures which depended inextricably on the fact that the Irish border was a normal intra-European border and that both States were members of the European Union. Guideline 2 provided for the creation of a North-South Council of Ministers (NSMC) strongly inspired by the model of the European Council of Ministers5. .