LONDON – Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the December 2019 general election on the that he had an “oven-ready deal” to “get Brexit done.”
But while the United Kingdom did leave the European Union in January 2020, Johnson’s deal included a governing the special trade status of Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s successful negotiation of an with European Commission President is thus a welcome development — one that could mark a turning point in U.K.-EU relations.
Brexit was an irresponsible act of self-sabotage that not only the U.K.’s economic and political relations with the EU, but also the fragile peace in Northern Ireland. It was only in 1998 that — thanks to the U.S.-brokered — Northern Ireland escaped a violent three-decade-long conflict between Protestant “unionists,” who mostly wish to remain in the U.K., and Catholic “nationalists,” who mostly want to join the Republic of Ireland.
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