Post on 27 February 2023

London and Brussels reach agreement on Northern Ireland issue

The Irish-British border issue has been at the heart of negotiations between London and Brussels for months. It now appears that an agreement has been reached during Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Winsdor. This agreement should allow for a revision of the Northern Ireland Protocol signed in 2020, which itself follows the 1998 peace agreements. Customs controls between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. A highly symbolic agreement since it crystallised tensions around this issue until then, leaving uncertainty and also creating internal political divisions. The final report on the agreement is expected to be released in the late afternoon of Monday 27 February.