Keep Northern Ireland in the EU?

Northern Ireland should be allowed to stay in the EU after Brexit to protect the Good Friday Agreement, a report published this week argues.

In the report, Dr Nikos Skoutaris, a senior lecturer in EU law at the University of East Anglia, argues for a special designated status for Northern Ireland in the UK withdrawal agreement.

In particular, he writes, the special designated status should respect the principle of consent and the right of self-determination by providing for a legal route for the reintegration of Northern Ireland into the EU. And it should protect the all-island economy by keeping Northern Ireland in the single market and/or the EU Customs Union (EUCU).

‘Such a status should be understood as a mutually agreed arrangement that will respect and protect the unique constitutional status of the region as provided by all three strands of the Good Friday Agreement,’ he said.

‘However, this situation should not happen at the expense of weakening “East-West” institutions, for example between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. In fact, their strengthening will be necessary in order to manage the tensions that Northern Ireland’s remaining in the single market and the EUCU would likely cause to its economic relationship with the rest of the UK.’

Unless such an arrangement is reached, the ‘fragile balance that the [Good Friday] agreement has established will be threatened,’ he says.

‘The very logic of the peace process dictates that Northern Ireland should enjoy a special designated status within the EU by taking into account and strengthening all three strands.’

Dr Skoutaris’ Report on a Special Designated Status for Northern Ireland Post-Brexit, was launched this week at an event at Ulster University, and was commissioned by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group of the European Parliament.