Brexit, GB-EU agreement reached on the Protocol for Northern Ireland

The Protocol of discord on paper still exists, but it's not what it used to be.

Under the leadership of the fourth British Tory prime minister after Brexit,

taking place: this time on the thorny dossier of Northern Ireland, the smallest and most turbulent nation in the United Kingdom, at risk of new fibrillations almost exactly 25 years after the historic peace of Good Friday which in 1998 put an end - without burying it completely - to the bloody season of the Troubles.

The agreement - sealed just under seven years after the referendum that sanctioned Brexit, in a historic moment of revival of regrets and recriminations on the island - bears the signatures of Rishi Sunak and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Protagonists of a highly anticipated ceremonial summit convened in Windsor to try to close the game.

In essence,

but then called into question by London and the subject of months of controversy not without consequences on the internal political deadlock that still paralyzes local institutions of Belfast.

Not a formal modification of the document, which would have forced the EU to contradict itself with respect to its initial legal position;

but certainly

(something like 'The scaffolding of Windsor') - in the direction of requests from across the Channel to lighten commitments: starting with the cancellation of the routine checks imposed on paper by the Protocol in version original for goods in internal transit between Ulster (which remained tied to the rules of the single European market even after Brexit, in order to be able to keep the border with the Republic of Ireland open in compliance with the Good Friday Agreement) and the rest of the Kingdom.

London, Sunak-von der Leyen meeting for agreement on 'Northern Ireland Protocol'

The major innovations concern

which will distinguish internal trade (freed from all bureaucratic constraints) from that of only products "at risk of export" to the EU;

as well as

.

But above all

made available to the "democratically elected" Northern Irish institutions

: brake which could, in the event, translate into an ad hoc right of veto that can be exercised through the central government of the United Kingdom.

In exchange, however, London appears destined to continue to accept some role of the European Court of Justice as the final arbiter of any

disputes.

In any case, the Windsor Charter opens

, Rishi and Ursula declared in unison in the final joint press conference, exchanging smiles, nods of understanding, crossed praises: not without protecting both "the integrity of the single market" (von der Leyen);

is "the sovereignty of Northern Ireland" (Sunak).

While the long-awaited symbolic audience granted by King Charles III to the President of the Commission in the nearby castle of the same name was not lacking to bless a document bearing the name of the dynasty at the bottom.

For Sunak, however, the challenge of

remains , starting with the prolonged evening debate before the House of Commons convened for the ritual statement in Parliament.

Bad moods partly fueled by Johnson's and his loyalists' desire for revenge, despite the acknowledgment of some Brexiteer ultras on the improved result of an agreement that "if it had been offered to us in 2017 we would have been very happy to accept".

Moreover, the agreement was suspended following the verdict of the Northern Irish unionist right of the Dup, whose standard-bearer, Jeffrey Donaldson, prefers to stall for now.

Instead, it is promoted with reservations by the neo-moderate leader of the Labor opposition Keir Starmer: convinced it is a useful albeit "late" step that a forthcoming Labor government will be able to expand well "beyond Northern Ireland", to favor in general a "more soft" between London and Brussels.

As if to water down Brexit, even without crusades to call it into question.