Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Windsor Framework (April 3, 2023)
Thomas Wash | PDF
On February 27, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced an important agreement to resolve disputes over the Irish border. The arrangement, referred to as the Windsor Framework, has been hailed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a step toward restoring trust between the EU and U.K. However, despite assurances from Sunak, the agreement fails to address the key concerns of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which wants border checks and other trade hurdles between mainland U.K. and Northern Ireland completely removed from the Brexit agreement.
This report explores how the Windsor Framework changes the U.K.- EU relationship. We begin with a brief summary of the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol. We then focus on the details in the framework and why they fall short of the DUP demands. We conclude with a summary of the possible financial and political ramifications of the agreement.