Seminar: What the Windsor Framework will mean in practice for the institutions of government in Northern Ireland?

CCBS staff were at the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels for a special seminar today.

Andrew McCormick, former Director General for International Relations within the Northern Ireland Executive Office, drew on his vast experience of the Brexit process to explore the impact of the Windsor Framework on the institutions of government in Northern Ireland.

Andrew has produced an important paper which is a must-read for all those wanting to understand the impacts of the Windsor Framework. Michael D’Arcy, CCBS Senior Research Associate, delivered a response which has also been published as a paper.

The seminar explored what the post-Brexit context will mean for the Assembly, the Executive and its departments of government, the North-South institutions and the British Irish Council.

The relationships, opportunities, risks and obligations will be very different from anything that has gone before. While there are parallels with the operation of the EEA countries, and others with association agreements with the EU, Northern Ireland will be unique in that it is a region of a non-Member State, and not a separate sovereign jurisdiction. The issues that will arise will be affected not only by the relationship with the EU, but by the place of Northern Ireland within the governance and constitution of the United Kingdom, which will itself also be adapting to new policy opportunities and challenges post-Brexit.

Communication and understanding (with NI stakeholders as well as the EU and UK institutions) will be absolutely critical if the opportunities are to be realised, and the potential tensions (which could be very significant) are to be anticipated and navigated to avoid disruption or controversy.

Watch a recording of the seminar here.