UK’s Sunak suggests he’ll seek Brexit treaty change from EU

Bloomberg

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested a coming deal with the European Union over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland would involve legal changes to the existing treaty, something the bloc has previously opposed.
In the House of Commons, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson complained that under the existing “unacceptable” deal — known as the protocol — “EU laws are imposed in Northern Ireland with no democratic scrutiny or consent.” He asked the premier for an assurance “that he will address these fundamental constitutional issues, and do so not just by tweaking the protocol but by rewriting the legally-binding treaty text?”
Sunak said he had heard Donaldson “loud and clear.” In a strong indication that he was seeking legal changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, he added “I can assure him that I agree” and that this was “an essential part in the negotiations that remain ongoing with the European Union.”
As talks over a Northern Ireland deal rumble on, the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson says it’s “unacceptable” that EU laws are
imposed on Belfast “with no democratic scrutiny”
The prime minister’s remarks suggest he faces a huge challenge to tread the line between the DUP’s demands and the EU’s red lines. European
Commission President Maros Sefcovic, who is leading negotiations for the EU, has repeatedly said that “renegotiating the protocol is unrealistic.”
Government officials on both sides have previously signalled that any agreement would not rewrite the existing treaty between the UK and the EU on Northern Ireland.
More likely is an arrangement under which they would change their own domestic laws to implement the terms of a new agreement.
Asked to clarify whether Sunak was seeking treaty changes, his spokeswoman later downplayed his remarks and said she wouldn’t get into the details of discussions or preempt their outcome.
Sunak spoke by phone with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and they agreed to speak again in the coming days, the prime minister’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters.
The government and unionists contend that the existing arrangements are snarling up the UK’s internal trade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The premier was due to speak virtually with affected businesses. Donaldson raised “a vital question about the constitutional and legal framework
in which these arrangements exist,” Sunak told the chamber. “I can assure him that this is at the very heart of the issues that must be addressed.”
The premier’s remarks will raise hopes among Northern Irish unionists of a more fundamental change to the existing treaty. It remains to be seen whether the final text of an agreement will meet the DUP’s concerns — or those of right-wingers in Sunak’s own Conservative Party whose views are closely aligned with those of the DUP.