Corporate DispatchPro
Crossing the Brexit minefield As spray paint sprawls across public walls and store shutters in Belfast, pronouncing the death of the Good Friday Agreement, the worst fears of the Brexit pact are coming back to haunt decision-makers in London and Brussels. Worrying images of burning buses, destructive riots and police shootings in Londonderry, Carrickfergus, and other settlements are fast becoming the undesired posters of post-Brexit Northern Ireland. Young people from Unionist communities born long after the end of The Troubles have been hurling insults as well as petrol bombs at authorities almost every night for over two weeks. Tensions have been simmering since June last year after thousands of people breached Covid-19 rules to attend the funeral of a former IRA leader. But the UK-EU Deal proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Wary of raising a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the UK government and the European Union agreed to draw a border in the Irish Sea, effectively cutting the island from Great Britain and plunging Belfast into a nightmare isolationist scenario, as far as loyalists are concerned. NI leaders are calling on the British government to review the agreement and negotiate a more satisfactory outcome with the EU. Meanwhile, calls for a revision of the pact are also coming from the business community in the UK. The British Chambers of Commerce expressed serious concern about the negative effects trade barriers are having on UK exporters. 25
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