The fact that Europe is experiencing “an energy crisis and a cost-of-living crisis” leads Neale Richmond to stress “the importance of having a close relationship” between the EU and the UK.
The Irish Minister for Trade and Employment defended this Saturday that the approval of the new agreement to eliminate the problems related to ‘Brexit’ is a fundamental objective at a time when Europe is experiencing a war.
“We have an opportunity to close a chapter that has long paralyzed the politics of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the entire European Union” and that goal is even more important at a time when “there is a war in Europe ”, Neale Richmond said this Saturday, in an interview with Lusa.
Present in Portugal to participate in the annual sustainability conference of the Ireland Portugal Business Network Association, the minister spoke about the importance of approving the recent Windsor agreement, negotiated between the British Government and the European Union (EU).
The “Windsor framework” agreement [Windsor Framework] It intends to resolve one of the biggest impasses derived from the British exit from the European bloc (‘Brexit’), modifying the Northern Ireland protocol to put an end to disagreements over the commercial status of this region that is part of the United Kingdom, but it 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 crisis and a crisis of rising cost of living” leads Neale Richmond to underline “the importance of having a close relationship” between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
“We will be able to move towards developing this much closer relationship when we close this chapter,” he warned, adding that he believes the Windsor deal “will, with absolute certainty, be approved.”
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.
The Irish Trade Minister believes, however, that the agreement will be adopted “in the coming weeks” and admitted to Lusa that he was “very happy” to have managed to reach “a good agreement for the United Kingdom, for the EU and particularly for Ireland.”
On the one hand, it “guarantees that there is no ‘hardening’ of the border on the island of Ireland”, which means that “the peace achieved in the Good Friday Agreement” is maintained, the 25th anniversary of which will be celebrated on the 10th of April. .
This agreement, whose official name is the Belfast Agreement, was signed in 1998 by the British and Irish governments, with the aim of putting an end to the conflicts between nationalists and unionists over the issue of the union of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. .
The DUP must accept this decision and “allow the institutions of the Northern Irish executive to function again so that the people of Northern Ireland, and all people, can really get back to living their lives”, defended Neale Richmond.
There is a need to “harness the economic potential and progress that this framework could bring to industry and society across Northern Ireland,” he added.
Coinciding the approval of the ‘Windsor Framework’ with the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement would be, in the opinion of the Irish minister, “very special”.
Although he defends the agreement as a decisive step, the official admits that ‘Brexit’ is far from being concluded, despite the fact that the agreement for the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union was already signed three years ago.
“Brexit is not over. ‘Brexit’ will be with us for generations to come in many ways,” he said.
Source: Observadora
