N.Ireland is once again the rope in the UK/EU tug of war.

(we've been here before, several times )

Both claim to be acting on the grounds of the Good Friday/Belfast 1998 Agreement.


Both have a point…

But it’s complicated.

A twitter thread.
#Brexit #GFA
1/13

The Belfast/Good Friday #Agreement has 3 strands.

These strands represent the lines of division that gave rise to the #conflict:
* unionist/nationalist within NI,
* north/south across the border, &
* British/Irish.

The B/GFA formalised cooperation across these lines.
2/13

Crucially, all are #interdependent.

Underpinning it all is the British-Irish relationship


That relationship was improved & became closer as a result of being ‘partners in the EU’

The EU was also a go-to model for some of that cross-border & multilevel cooperation.
3/13

There are as many references to the UK in the B/GFA as there are to the EU (15).

These are mainly in relation to the new institutions’ consideration of EU issues

The principle of #coordination is key.

& the EU dimension is most important to north/south cooperation.

4/13

+ B/GFA makes the European Convention on #HumanRights [Council of Europe, but a legal obligation of EU membership] a #safeguard for the B/GFA.

To ensure that ‘all sections of the community are protected’.

This is why it is included in the NI/IRL #Protocol.

5/13

But above all else, the #principles that underpin the B/GFA are key.

See the Declaration of Support signed up to by the parties & both govts:

“to strive in every practical way towards reconciliation & rapprochement within the framework of democratic & agreed arrangements.”
6/13

"Democratic & agreed arrangements" are absolutely key here.

There's something unimpeachable about what is negotiated, what is confirmed by democratic process.

It cannot be in tune with the B/GFA if it undermines democratic & agreed arrangements.

Who would disagree?

7/13

Second: ‘partnership, equality & mutual #respect’ as the basis of relationships across these islands.

What ever smacks of distrust, inequality, disrespect is undermining of the B/GFA.

This includes #Scotland & #Wales… they are equal members in the British-Irish Council.

8/13

Third: ‘exclusively #democratic & peaceful means of resolving differences on political issues’.

Elected representation has to matter.
Democratic process must work.
The rule of law must be revered.
Publicly promulgated. Equally enforced.

Undermine that & the B/GFA withers.
9/13

One thing m.important than we may have thought before:
There are no formal dispute resolution mechanisms in the B/GFA.
The courts overseeing it are national supreme courts, not an international court.
If UK or Ireland breaches it, there are no intl. legal means of recourse.
10/13

There is another principle worth mentioning: #consent.

“Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom & shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of the people”.

Nothing in the #Protocol changes the constitutional status of NI.

11/13

We are left on the faultline of future UK/EU relations.

But when all is said & done, the most critical relationship for peace in NI is the British-Irish relationship.

Devalue, jettison, undermine, stymie that relationship & you'll undermine the foundations of peace in NI

12/13

The softer the Irish land border & the softer the Irish sea border, the better it is for N.Ireland.

We can’t help it.
We’re perched in between.
#BritishIrishBoth

Try&pull one way or the other & we’re in trouble.

The only way ahead, in tune with the B/GFA, is #compromise.
13/13