25 March 2024

UKandEU: The Windsor Framework: Stormont being heard… and what next?

David Phinnemore unpacks the first test for one of the processes in the Windsor Framework designed to give the Northern Ireland Assembly a say over the application of EU rules in Northern Ireland. He highlights that the UK government now faces a decision and explores what might come next.

Last week the recently restored Northern Ireland (NI) Assembly held its first debate on whether the UK government should agree to the adoption of a new EU act in Northern Ireland. This was a significant first test for one of the processes that gives Stormont a say on the Windsor Framework – one which leaves the UK government with a decision to make.

The debate followed the tabling of an ‘applicability motion’ by members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). With Stormont restored, the UK has agreed that such a motion must normally be approved by a cross-community majority of members of the NI Assembly (MLAs) before the UK government can agree to a new EU act being added to the Windsor Framework.

The application in Northern Ireland of new as well as existing EU acts concerning the free movement of goods is necessary for avoiding a post-Brexit hardening of the border on the island of Ireland – an essential reason the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (now referred to as the Windsor Framework) exists. For the EU, Northern Ireland’s ‘dynamic regulatory alignment’ is necessary to ensure the integrity of its internal market.

Yet dynamic regulatory alignment with EU laws over whose adoption Northern Ireland has no direct say has long been opposed by the DUP and other unionist parties as matter of principle. There is not only a ‘democratic deficit’ here, but also riling many unionists is the differentiated treatment of Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK.

The UK and the EU in the Windsor Framework therefore agreed to enhance the role of a restored Stormont in the operation of the original Protocol beyond the regular ‘democratic consent’ vote on its continued application that could be held every four years. The ‘Stormont Brake’ was introduced for changes to EU law already being applied in Northern Ireland and the need established for an ‘applicability motion’ from the NI Assembly before the UK government can agree to a new EU act being added to the list.

Last week’s debate concerned a new EU regulation on protections on geographical indications for craft and industrial products.

A majority (61%) of MLAs voted in favour of the required ‘applicability motion’. This included 33‘nationalist’ MLAs from Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic Labour Party, as well as the 16 MLAs from the Alliance Party. However, the motion did not secure the requisite ‘cross-community’ majority for its adoption...

more at UKandEU

© UKandEU