The main problems that Sunningdale omitted and addressed in the Belfast Agreement are the principle of self-determination, the recognition of both national identities, Anglo-Irish intergovernmental cooperation and legal procedures to make power-sharing compulsory, such as inter-municipal voting and the D`Hondt system for appointing ministers for the executive. [24] [25] Tommy McKearney, a former IRA member and journalist, argues that the main difference is the British government`s intention to negotiate a comprehensive agreement by involving the IRA and the more intransigent unionists. [26] With regard to the right to self-determination, the jurist Austen Morgan cites two qualifications. Firstly, the transfer of territories from one State to another must be done through an international agreement between the British and Irish Governments. Asked if she would work with Mr Johnson, Ms Foster said: “Our trust agreement is with the Conservative Party. It was signed by the two main whips. This is a party-to-party agreement. Although Prime Minister Johnson and Irish leaders have promised to protect the Good Friday deal, some Brexiteers have taken the opportunity to criticise the agreement`s power-sharing institutions, arguing that the pact is obsolete. Some DUP members, who had opposed the agreement in 1998, also questioned the agreements it had reached.

During negotiations on the UK`s planned withdrawal from the European Union in 2019, the EU developed a position paper on its concerns about the UK`s support for the Good Friday Agreement during Brexit. The position paper covers, inter alia, the prevention of a hard border, North-South cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the right to birth of all inhabitants of Northern Ireland (as provided for in the Agreement) and the common travel area. [31] [32] Anyone born in Northern Ireland who is therefore entitled to an Irish passport under the Good Friday Agreement can retain EU citizenship even after Brexit. [33] As part of the European Union`s Brexit negotiating directives, the UK has been asked to convince other member states that these issues have been addressed to move on to the second phase of Brexit negotiations. . . .