The Crisis of the Northern Ireland Political System and EU-UK Relations

Two no-confidence votes in a month for successive leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) herald a political crisis in Northern Ireland (NI) and increase the likelihood of snap NI Assembly elections before the ones scheduled for May 2022. In any case, the campaign will be dominated by the NI...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2021
Main Author: Biskup, Przemyslaw
Format: Report
Language:English
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The Polish Institute of International Affairs
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Summary:Two no-confidence votes in a month for successive leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) herald a political crisis in Northern Ireland (NI) and increase the likelihood of snap NI Assembly elections before the ones scheduled for May 2022. In any case, the campaign will be dominated by the NI border issue, the EU-UK trade dispute, post-pandemic economic problems, and the centenary of the division of the island of Ireland. Unionists contesting the post-Brexit border arrangements can prevent close cooperation between the EU and the UK; therefore, it seems necessary to intensify the dialogue between the EU and this camp and replace the current solutions with a "smart border".