The Ukraine war forces them to smoke a peace pipe

Wolfgang Hansson

The Ukraine war forces the EU and Great Britain to smoke the pipe of peace  

 

Published: Today 18.35  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU President Ursula van der Leyen at a meeting on Monday. Photo: Dan Kitwood/AP 

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

It's been a long time since the world saw a British Prime Minister and an EU President socializing and laughing together.  

 

Possibly Rishi Sunak and Ursula van der Leyen have unusually good personal chemistry, but a more likely explanation is that the Ukraine war simply forced them to smoke a peace pipe. 

 

But not all obstacles have been removed.  

 

When the West tries to present a united front against Russia, the

EU

and Great Britain cannot simultaneously stand on the brink of a trade war. It doesn't hold.  

 

Yesterday's agreement on how trade can be facilitated between

Northern

Ireland

and Great Britain should be seen in that light by the EU agreeing to new rules.  

 

Ever since the British exit from the EU in 2020, the question of how Northern Ireland should be treated has been hanging in limbo.

Britain's former prime minister

Boris Johnson

threatened to break the Brexit agreement he signed himself if the EU did not agree to extensive changes.  

The atmosphere between the EU and the UK has been poisoned with constant threats of lawsuits and triggering a trade war. 

 

A particularly unfortunate situation after Russia invaded

Ukraine

a year ago and the Western world at the same time tried to give the impression of an unshakable unity.  

 

That's why many breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when they saw Ursula van der Leyen and

Rishi Sunak

beaming at each other as they presented a solution to the problem.   

 

The proposal means that the goods that are transported from Great Britain and that are only going to Northern Ireland get their own cream cheese. You skip the bureaucracy with documents and permits. Whoever transports pets between the British "mainland" and Northern Ireland no longer needs a veterinary certificate.  

 

Avoid hard border  

 

Everything that is on store shelves in the UK must also be on the shelves in Northern Ireland without extra checks. 

However, all goods going to the Republic of Ireland must pass through a red file where customs declarations and more are required.  

 

All this has a single purpose. Avoiding at all costs a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of Great Britain, and Ireland, which is an EU country.

 

All parties fear that such a border would be the starting point for a renewed conflict between the Northern Irish who want to become part of Ireland, republicans, and those who want to remain part of Great Britain, unionists.  

 

That conflict, called the Troubles, lasted for three decades and only ended in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement where both sides agreed to peace. By then, the conflict had claimed over 3,000 human lives, with acts of terror as a frequently used weapon.  

 

The conflict between the EU and Great Britain has led to the extremists in Northern Ireland once again venting in the morning air. Just a week or so ago, a policeman was shot in an act for which the New IRA claimed responsibility. He is still hovering between life and death.  

 

Put sticks in the wheel  

 

Put sticks in the wheel Although this year marks the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement, Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland often live in completely segregated neighborhoods and many fear that hostilities could easily pick up new momentum. The original Brexit agreement with its so-called Northern Ireland protocol led to the largest unionist party, the DUP, refusing to sit in the local parliament, which completely paralyzed local government with its mandatory power-sharing for Northern Ireland. The DUP feared the protocol was a first step in cutting ties with Britain for good. 

 

It is hoped that the new deal, the Windsor framework, will see the DUP reseat itself in local parliament with its opponents from Sinn Fein, the republican's largest party.  

 

Then the tensions would decrease.  

 

The first signals yesterday were surprisingly positive. The DUP says it must be given time to analyze the legal text of the deal before deciding whether to back it. But they didn't immediately kick the rear as they did with the Northern Ireland Protocol.  

 

Nor are there any clear battle cries from the hard-line Brexiteers in Sunak's own conservative party. However, that can change. Many suspect that Boris Johnson is planning to put sticks in the wheel.  

 

New chapter 

 

Sunak still needs to convince his own to vote for the Windsor framework before the new deal is in place.  

There are elections next year and the conservatives are far behind in the opinion polls. Brexit has not exactly been a success and the hope is that most people now want to put the battle behind them, both in Great Britain and in the capitals of Europe.  

 

Both sides describe it as a new chapter in relations. 

 

Not least, it is important that a contentious topic that can divide Europe disappears from the playing field and does not take away the focus from supporting Ukraine, dealing with the climate threat and other existential issues.