The UK and Ireland have signed an agreement to protect the rights of their citizens after Brexit

The The governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland signed an agreement Wednesday to guarantee their citizens a certain number of rights after Brexitlike the free movement of people between the two countries.

The "number two" of the British executive, David Lidington and Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney signed the signed Memorandum of Understanding – a non-binding document – designed to protect the area of ​​common traffic (CTA), regardless of the outcome of the divorce between London and Brussels.

The ceremony took place in the British capital, as part of a meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a cooperation forum created after the signing of the Holy Friday peace agreement (1998), which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.

"Our message to Irish citizens in the UK is this: your rights will not change. They will be able to continue to travel freely between Ireland and the United Kingdom and the islands; work, study, collect the pension and have access to public and social services"Lidington explained.

Coveney indicated that the signing of the MoU represented a step forward "important moment" for both countries, after months of tension on the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU).

"The common traffic area has been granting rights and privileges to Irish and British citizens for almost a century, but this has not yet been formalized in this way," said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister. Foreign Affairs.

The CTA was created in the 1920sAfter the independence of Ireland, allow free movement between the Republic of Ireland and the British Province of Northern Ireland and Great Britain (Scotland, England and Wales).

Brexit, however, raised doubts about the viability of these bilateral agreements, since a divorce without agreement could provoke the restoration of a hard border between the two Irishwhich would be detrimental to their economies and the peace process.

Therefore, the exit agreement signed by London and Brussels last December includes the so-called "Backstop", a guarantee designed to ensure the invisibility of the border until both parties establish a new business relationship after the divorce.

This agreement was rejected three times by the British Parliament for the inclusion of the safeguard clause and the Brexit is at a standstill, which keeps alive the ghost of an exit without agreement.

In this scenario, the worst possible, the EU would be obliged to restore customs controls on products entering the bloc by the United Kingdom and the Northern Irish border.