Dublin, 28 Feb. The main parties in Northern Ireland on Tuesday asked the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to decide soon on the new agreement to reform the Brexit protocol to restore the power-sharing government in Belfast, suspended for a year, as soon as possible.
“The deal is done. My key message is that this momentum must be maintained. The priority now must be the restoration (of the government) without delay,” said Sinn Féin vice-president, nationalist Michelle O’Neill, after a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
A day after announcing the so-called Windsor Framework Agreement, Sunak traveled to Northern Ireland today to showcase his advantages on the ground and persuade the pro-British DUP to return to a self-governing executive led by the Sinn Féin, which would also include the Alliance Party. , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP).
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, who is in London today, has already warned in the morning that they will take ‘their time’ to decide whether they support the UK Government and EU deal on the province , which they will submit to the examination of the lawyers.
The unionist formation, the second regional force, wants to analyze in detail the content of the Windsor text and then decide whether or not to lift its boycott of the reformed protocol, an instrument which it has considered until now as endangering relations with Ireland. North with the rest of the United States. Kingdom.
‘The key now for us is that we need a decision from the DUP and we need to get back to work,’ he said after his meeting with ‘Prime Minister’ Naomi Long, leader of the multi-faith Alliance party, the third regional force.
For its part, the UUP, also pro-British, the fourth formation, described today the agreement reached between London and Brussels as positive, and recognized that Sunak is “working hard” to “sell it”.
“We’re going to look at it carefully. But I think anyone who says it will take weeks or months is lying,” said UUP leader Dough Beattie, who said the reform pact could be considered in ” a week or two.”
According to him, the power-sharing executive could be operational “already” at “the same time as we examine the framework agreement” of Windsor.
“There is no point in dragging on. People have to show their courage and their conviction, they have to look at the text, produce an analysis and present their position,” Beattie added, referring to the DUP.