The U.K. and EU Reach a Deal on the Irish Border Dispute. What’s Next?

The United Kingdom has announced that it will drop the clauses of a bill that would have given London the power to violate its 2019 Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union. This reduces the probability of the introduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, no matter what happens with the ongoing EU-U.K. trade talks. It also serves as a gesture of goodwill toward Brussels at a time when those negotiations are at an impasse. On Dec. 8, U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said he had reached an agreement in principle with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on all the outstanding issues connected with the EU-U.K. Withdrawal Agreement, which allowed the United Kingdom to exit the European Union in January 2020. As a result, the plans to introduce customs controls at the Irish Sea (a necessary condition to keep the land border open)...